Eternal Summer
by Chrysalism88
Summary: Normal humans don't get abducted by pegasi. Kynan Morgan and Felicity Hawthorne, two young runaways living in the streets of NYC, find out that they're more than mortal when two heroes show up to escort them to Camp Half-Blood; Kynan and Felicity are demigods. As if that weren't enough, one of the Olympian gods is in trouble, and they've been tasked with helping. Fun? Yeah right.
1. Prologue

"Percy? Percy! _Seaweed Brain_!" Percy Jackson was rudely started awake from his nap as his persistent girlfriend banged on his door.

"Why hello to you, too," he grumbled as he stumbled over to his door, tripping on one of his T-shirts on the way. He opened it up to reveal a highly impatient Annabeth Chase.

She dove in to give him a quick kiss on the lips then strolled past him, eyeing the cabin with mild disapproval. "The cleaning check's coming up, Percy."

"It'll be in pristine condition by then," he said playfully. "Is there something wrong, Annabeth? I was kind of sleeping over here."

"Chiron wants to see us in the Big House. He says it's urgent," she informed him.

"Tell him I need my beauty sleep."

"Percy . . ."

"Oh, jeez. Fine, I'll go, but let me tell you, I'm not going graciously." He threw on the nearest shirt and half-heartedly raked his fingers through his perpetually messy hair before deciding to just give up on it.

Annabeth dragged a half-awake Percy over to the Big House and met up with Chiron, who looked even more solemn than usual (that was quite a feat, considering recent events). Mr. D was highly irritated that the teenage demigods were interrupting their card game, but Chiron clearly thought it was worth it. Percy still valued his sleep over anything else though-except Annabeth, maybe.

"Chiron, tell me what's wrong. How important is this, like, on a scale from one to ten? If it's anything less than an eight I'm not going to be too happy." Mr. D, scowling in their direction, left the room and both teens felt a sense of relief.

Chiron was less than amused, which was rather unusual, because he usually found Percy quite comical. "I need to send the two of you out into the city."

Annabeth blinked once in surprise. "Why?"

"We've been tracking a couple demigods, a boy and a girl, in Manhattan for a few months now, they've just about started to attract attention from the monsters. Especially the girl, but she's still quite young so it hasn't been too dire yet. But the attacks are beginning to frequent, so I need you to rescue them before anything happens to them."

Percy relented, now down straight to business. "Okay, that's like a nine point five. What do they look like?"

"Also, what are their _names_?" Annabeth corrected and he kicked himself for forgetting that one.

He pondered it over, lost in his thoughts for a moment. "The boy is named Kynan Morgan. He's around thirteen perhaps, with copper-colored hair and tan skin. I can't tell you much more than that.

"And the girl?" Annabeth prompted.

"She's not with the boy, in case you were wondering. She's about thirteen years of age, as well. We've been tracking them separately. Her name is Felicity Hawthorne, and she has black hair with streaks of blue-green. She's quite pale. She'll probably be easier to notice in the crowd."

"Hair streaks at thirteen years old?" Percy repeated curiously. "Classy."

Annabeth stood from the table and clapped her hands sharply together once. "All right, let's do this thing. Got an address?"

"They currently are living on the streets."

Well, _that_ broadened the search. _Just great_ , Percy thought. "Wow. Um, okay. We'll . . . we'll find them. I promise."

 **Rory's A/N: That chapter looks a lot shorter here... Oh well! Welcome to our story, Eternal Summer! There's a lot of symbolism to that title, which you'll see later on. I'm warning you, we got off to a slow start in this book, but I think you'll like it if you're patient enough. If you've read our bio, you know that this is a joint account, so there's two of us writing this. I'm Rory, and my partner is Goldie. We'd love to hear your feedback, and thanks for reading!**

 **Also, happy International Fanworks Day!**


	2. Chapter One

Chapter 1

Felicity's P.O.V.

 _Grrrr._ My stomach rumbled for the thousandth time in the last hour and I howled along with it, just to sound obnoxious to the innocent passerby. Not one of them stopped to give me, the moaning, hungry kid any money, though. Douchebags.

It was unsurprising, though. New Yorkers, from what I learned over the years, only saw what was right in front of their nose and couldn't care about much else besides themselves. I was probably a fairly good example of that.

Some poor little soul decided he wanted to use my bench (which had been my bed for the week) to sit. He hauled himself up and wisely scooted over to the end where I couldn't kick him off. He stared at me with enormous saucers of eyes.

"Hey, kid, got any money?" I asked him hopefully. He shook his head vigorously, his golden blond hair flopping over his face. "Ugh, people are so unhelpful." He still kept on looking at me like I was a really fascinating exhibit in his favorite museum. "That includes you, ya know."

I'm pretty sure that scared him because he startled to scramble off the bench to where his mother stood talking on the phone a few meters away. "Hey, no, wait, you're my only source of entertainment!" He appraised me fearfully. "Come back, I don't wanna be," I broke into song, "allllll byyyyy myyyyself!" He scuttled away and I grinned at my success.

Reverse psychology works like a charm. That was my favorite way to scare people off, but having an avid conversation with oneself does wonders as well. Their horrified expressions were _priceless_.

I stretched out and scanned the busy streets for any particularly vulnerable people to prey on. Everyone was moving so fast, as usual, it was difficult to pick out an individual. "C'mon, fishies," I muttered under my breath. "Who wants some bait?"

Then I saw him, my prey! He was a boy of about my age, maybe a little older. He had light copper hair that gleamed in the harsh sunlight like a shiny new penny. He was good-looking enough, but that's not what I was focusing on. No, all I zoned in on was the stack of money he was pulling out of his pocket in front of a music store.

Maybe this idiot hadn't ever been to New York, but it wasn't too smart to whip out the money _before_ he went into the store. I silently left my seat and blended in with the crowd, slowly but steadily making my way over to him like a serpent sneaking up on a defenseless little mouse.

The ignorant kid was busy counting his bills and I smirked at how easy this was going to be. In a burst of speed, I charged at him like an angry bull seeing red and knocked him hard to the ground. I snatched his money and was halfway down the block before he could even blink.

Kynan P.O.V.

That little twerp stole my money. _She freaking stole my money!_ I'd been saving up for three weeks to get this CD, and now this little brat had interrupted my plans.

"Oi! Get back here!" I bellowed, tearing into pursuit. My jacket, tied around my waist, was flapping behind me, creating air resistance which was slowing me down. Hurriedly I whipped it off, and kept running.

 _Damn, this kid's fast,_ I thought. I could be pretty quick when I felt like it, but I hadn't had a proper chase like this in months. With the New York traffic, it was hard to keep close enough to the culprit to still see her. Between passing pedestrians, I caught glimpses of long, black hair streaked with blue or green, and guessed that she was around my age.

Luckily, the girl got caught at a "Do Not Walk" sign. No one in their right mind would cross a New York street without having the right of way, so she was stuck waiting at the crosswalk, giving me a fighting chance to catch up.

"Hey, why'd you take my-" I tried to demand, reaching out to grab her sleeve when I was close enough. She reacted defensively and I was cut off by a swift uppercut which landed just above my left eye. The "Walk" light chose that moment to come on. As I was trying to clear my vision enough to run in a straight line, the girl continued, sprinting across the street. _I swear, when I catch up to her_. . . .

The chase continued another half a block before the girl turned a corner, and disappeared. I followed, only to find construction materials blocking their path. I smirked. If she wasn't insane enough to brave the traffic, she definitely wasn't wild enough to run through a construction zone, complete with manholes and caution tape.

"Looks like you're stuck now, huh?" I taunted her, taking my time in approaching her. He could see the two twenty dollar bills she'd snatched from him still clutched in her right hand. _I have to get those back. For Mom._

"Yeah. But I've still got your money, so I'm not too worried." She sounded far too shameless for my liking but I could hear the ever so faint tremble in her tone. But she was too brazen to back off now.

"Not for long. I'm only going to ask this once. Please give it back, and I promise I'll let you go. I won't tell the police or anything." I tried to sound reassuring, but internally I was panicking. I really needed that money back. And I didn't want to take it back by force.

"Your offer is tempting, it really is, but I think I'll hang onto it. Besides, you sure don't look like you need it," the girl pointed out, gesturing to my clothes. Everything I wore was designer something-or-other from last year's catalogs. But of course, all she saw was no rips and decent fabrics, not the labels and price tags I saw whenever I examined them. Oh how I wished I'd been able to get out of these clothes and into something more plain.

"You've got no idea what that money's for. Or how important it is," I spat bitterly, glaring at my shoes and trying to shove the memories of my mother to the back of my mind, where they didn't hurt quite so much.

"Well, I could do with a decent meal, so your fancy new shoes can wait," she replied with a sweet smile that almost counteracted the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"I wasn't buying shoes," I snapped, beginning to get irritated- well, more so.

"Oh, sorry. What was it this time, a new watch? Maybe a new cologne?" she continued to tantalize me. I gritted my teeth.

"It was my mom's CD." I hated that I even had to tell her this little tidbit of information; there was absolutely no reason I had to justify myself.

"Oh! That's really funny. The son of a recording artist can't bear to part with forty bucks because he wants to buy a copy of his mommy's CD," she laughed, seeming almost giddy. "Mommy can't give you a free copy?" In one swift motion, I lunged forward and threw a hard punch to her gut while her guard was down from laughing. _How dare she_? She visibly flinched then blinked away the pain.

"Give me back my cash. You don't know anything about me, so don't go making assumptions about my life," I growled, our faces inches apart- mine seething with anger, hers glowing with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

"Why don't you quit talkin' and make me?" She grinned humorlessly, and stomped on my foot, hard. Strange, she was actively trying to goad me into a fight.

"Ouch, you've really wounded my pride, sweetheart. Truly, I thought we had something going here. I didn't want it to have to come to this, but you've forced my hand," I mused, staring dolefully into her eyes. I hated playing this card, but sometimes I could flirt my way out of a sticky situation.

"You . . . Sweetheart? What the hell?" she shouted in exasperation, leaning away from me. _Gods, I hate doing this,_ I thought as I stepped forward and cupped her cheek with one hand. I was surprised to see her raise her hand to slap me away, then hesitate.

"Really, I'd hate to be so cruel to such a pretty girl. I'm sure we could make some sort of arrangement, though. I get my money, you get, well, me," I bartered, my voice low. Years in show business had taught me how to seduce and do it quickly.

"What are you, a prostitute?" the girl shrieked. With that, she grabbed my wrist and judo-flipped me. I landed on my back on the concrete with a painful thud. _Dang, that tactic has never failed me before. I'd hate to admit I'm impressed, but_. . .

Felicity's P.O.V.

The boy lay groaning on the concrete and I waited impatiently for him to rise again. This wasn't just about the money anymore, I loved a good fight and I was damn sure he could deliver.

"Today, maybe?" I quipped as he struggled to his feet. "Soliciting sex is illegal in the state of New York, you know. And nearly everywhere else."

"Trust me, I wasn't about to have sex with a girl like _you!_ " he snapped, rubbing ruefully at his likely aching back.

I feigned offense. "You hurt me," I pointed right at my heart, " _right here_. But I'm actually quite relieved . . . _sweetheart_." His eyes narrowed as I threw his sardonic term of endearment right back in his face.

His brown eyes darkened a few shades and he growled, "I'm done playing. Give me back my money or you'll regret it. I was being honest when I said I didn't want to hurt a pretty face, but I'm not afraid to squash you like a bug."

"You mean I haven't been regretting it _already?_ " I pretended to look shocked.

He scowled at me so hard I concluded that if he were wearing boots, he would actually attempt to stomp on me. "Do you try to be obnoxious or does it just come naturally to you?"

"It's a talent," I informed him dryly, a smirk playing at my lips. "I'm very skilled in the art. Oscar-worthy, in fact."

"Ya-huh. Who's talking too much now?" The boy threw his head back in a quick laugh, his copper hair rippling like a lion's mane. Tossing his backpack to the side, he swung his arms in a circle and studied me as if sizing up whether I'd taste better raw or cooked with a side of BBQ sauce. BBQ sauce was always the way to go, but I wasn't about to tell _him_ that.

I flung my backpack (full of my only possessions) to the side as well and stretched out my shoulders. "Bro, I've been waiting for you to attack for like a million years now. Seriously, anytime now. I'm literally mailing you an invitation." When he still didn't make any aggressive movements, I continued, "Tick tock, I've got things to do."

The boy laughed again, high and wild. "You've forgotten something."

I was admittedly curious but I worked to keep my expression flawlessly impassive. "Yeah? And what might that be, _sweetheart_?"

"You're the one standing at the edge of a construction zone, just a few steps away from an open manhole or two. Whereas I've got the entire city at my back." The boy smiled coldly, holding his arms out as if he owned all of New York City and simply saw this as a minor annoyance, a slight blemish on the skin of his valiant city. Even though New York was anything but valiant, and I certainly wouldn't have been its first blemish.

Yes, he liked to think he had the upper hand. _Well, his efforts are respectable_ , I thought. Arching an eyebrow, I inched forward and grinned back. "You see, I might know nothing about you, but I'm afraid you know equally little about me. So, you just don't quite grasp that I'm an _excellent_ escape artist." The last word had barely left my mouth before I leapt into action and blew past him, beginning the game of cat and mouse once more.

I laughed recklessly, the bell-like tone carrying in the wind as I sprinted with an extra burst of speed to push me forward. He was hot on my heels but that only added to my enjoyment; it was more exciting, more thrilling this way! He'd never catch me, of course, but the chase was always fun.

Planning out an escape route in my head (I knew this area like the back of my hand), I planted my feet and abruptly changed direction into the nearest alley, breaking his ankles, so to speak.

"Catch me if you can, _sweetheart!_ " I called playfully over my shoulder, really milking the whole "sweetheart" debacle. I then directed my full attention to the tall, chain-link fence that I was approaching rapidly.

His puffing of breath proved as my only answer besides, "My name's Kynan!" and I began to haul my nimble form over the fence, flipping myself over with a show of unusual strength. Unfortunately, it didn't go quite as planned. I landed gracefully on my feet, but I had hardly a second to catch my breath when he fell _right on top of me_.

We toppled over with simultaneous cries of pain. "What were you saying there, _sweetheart?_ " he asked huskily, his panting breath hot on my ear. He was splayed out on top of me and it set me entirely on edge.

" _This!_ " I yelled, kneeing him right in the place where he most certainly did _not_ want to be kneed. He yelped and I shoved him off to me, scrambling to my feet to start up in another run.

I didn't get very far before I felt his hand yank my arm backwards and stop me in my tracks. With the added momentum, I threw back a fist and let it connect against his cheekbone. He grunted, and wasted no time in returning the blow.

Pain spread across my cheek like wildfire and it fueled my anger like gasoline. "Why won't you just leave me alone?"

Kynan's eyes locked onto mine, caught somewhere between disbelief and anger, and his voice wavered into what nearly became a shout of, "You still have my money, punk!"

I had actually kind of forgotten that part. "Oh yeah. . . ." I swerved a punch aimed for my side and crouched down to sweep out his legs. He side-stepped me quite elegantly and kicked me sharply in the ribs.

As I jumped to my feet, he aggressively shoved me into the alley wall and I pushed him back, just as hard. "This is turning into a deadlock," he sighed, backing off and allowing us both to take a breather.

"Well, _actually_ , I do believe I'm winning-" Something slimy and indescribably gross splattered all over me and my eyebrows skyrocketed into my hairline. It _burned_.

"What the hell?" I cried, hopping around to try and rid myself of the stinging substance. " _Ow_! What is this, acid?! That's not fair, you fight dirtier than I do!"

He fiercely shook his head, fearfully staring at something behind me. "I fight in a lot of different ways, but not dirty. Never that."

"Then _what_ -"

He tentatively lifted a hand and pointed wildly over my shoulder. "Look behind you!"

I spun around on my heel to glower at the person behind me, admonishing, "Excuse me, this is a private conversation- oh _crappola!_ " Whatever that thing was, it most certainly was _not_ humanoid in any way, shape, or form. It looked like a dragon, I guess, but it didn't have any wings or legs. So, more like a snake. A really, _really_ big snake. It slithered toward us gradually, just biding its time.

An abrupt alliance suddenly forming between us, we slowly backed away from the snarling creature. My back met with the chain-link face and my heartbeat quickened; we were trapped, and I sure as hell didn't appreciate that. "What do you _want_ from us?" I shouted as bravely as I could muster, my knees shaking beneath me.

"I don't think it can talk," Kynan murmured thoughtfully, observing it in close detail. I dropped to a squatting position and groped around for anything ( _anything!_ ) that could help me. All I found was a decently sized rock with a rough, uneven edge. I stood up and gripped it threateningly.

Kynan shot me a derisive look. "Really, a _rock_? Yeah, that'll help."

"I'm sorry, I don't think one who has absolutely zilch in the weapons department can scoff at _me_!"

He dove forward and snatched up a Coke bottle, slamming it against the bricks of the alley wall so the edges were jagged. "Who's got nothing now, huh?"

"Really, a Coke bottle?" Now it was my turn to scorn. "How're you going to hurt it? With some free advertising? Y'know, better than Pepsi!"

"Hilarious, but I think we've got bigger issues." Shattered Coke bottle in hand, Kynan stared ahead at the beast blocking our escape from the alleyway (that is, unless we wanted to try our luck with the fence again) as if he were sizing it up, figuring out how best to defeat it.

I studied it more closely. It was _enormous_. Easily the size of a garbage disposal truck, yet still slender enough to fit into the alleyway, it looked like a massive jet black snake with huge fangs that were dripping what seemed to be acid.

Its head began to weave around like it was choking something and then it spewed out massive amounts of fire. Kynan and I, ducked and rolled forward to escape the crackling flames, but the fence wasn't so lucky. It was melted silvery goo by now.

" _Run!_ " Kynan bellowed and I did _not_ need any more encouragement. I leapt over the vibrant orange tendrils like they were a hurdle in a track event and was pleasantly surprised to come out unscathed. Track and field was not my forte.

The beast twisted after us and it was _fast_ , far too fast for us to be able to make it out of the alley in time. Deciding to use my last resort, I twisted around in mid-air and tossed the rock with all my might at its gruesome head just as Kynan chucked the remains of the Coke bottle. Unsurprisingly, it bounced harmlessly off its gleaming scales.

"We're boned!" I shouted, dodging another blast of radiating heat from the fire-breathing snake thing.

"What's your name?!" he yelled back. The end of the alley was close, wonderfully close, but _not close enough_.

"Random, much?"

"Just tell me your damn name!"

"Felicity, but you can call me Lissie!" Might as well be nice if we were about to meet an ugly demise.

"All right, Lissie, sweetheart, it's been an honor serving with you!" he said courteously, tipping an invisible hat like a right gentleman.

Something occurred to me and I fished his money out of my jean pocket. "Here, you can have your money back now!" I shoved it to him and he actually _did_ take it, stuffing it in his pocket.

"Thanks, I guess!"

Twenty-five feet to the end, twenty, fifteen . . . Hope flickered up inside me that we actually might make it, but when I glanced over my shoulder my heart skipped a beat once I saw how close it was to us. It spat out more acid right in front of where Kynan's right foot landed; his foot slid forward and he lost balance, bringing me down with him.

I landed with a _thud_ that shot pain through my entire body, but all I could do was gape as the gigantic creature loomed over us. For some reason I could never begin to understand right then, I clutched onto Kynan's hand as the fearsome beast opened up its mouth. He squeezed my hand and I his.

A vibrant flare of orange burst from the beast's mouth and I shut my eyes so I wouldn't have to see us engulfed in the flames.

 **Rory's A/N: I love cliffhangers. Writing them, not reading them, sorry. I'm sorry. We're sorry. Kind of. Thanks for reading. :)**


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter 2

Kynan's Perspective

I was dead. I was officially, really dead. I wondered, briefly, what my obituary would read (if I got one). Perhaps _Kynan Morgan, burned to death by large fire-breathing snake-like monster while holding hands with a girl he barely knew._ At least I couldn't draw danger toward anyone if I were dead.

Only problem was, I could still feel the alley floor beneath me. I'd sat down right in a puddle, I remembered that much, and my jeans still felt cold and wet. If there were puddles in heaven, I was going to need to have a serious talk with whoever ran this place.

Cautiously, I cracked open one eye, waiting for blinding white light and beautiful gates. Maybe if I was lucky there'd even be fluffy clouds and angels. All I saw was a boy holding a long, bronze sword standing between Lissie and I and whatever had been seconds away from making us its dinner.

The snake-like beast was gone. All I could see that was left of it was a slight golden dust swirling in the air which was fading fast. We'd been saved. We weren't dead!

I blushed a little bit when I realized I was still holding fast to Lissie's hand, and quickly let go. Standing up to brush myself off, I took a closer look at our savior. He was taller than me, and a good few years older, but beyond that the differences were numbered. The boy had dark hair, and was dressed in an orange T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

I hadn't noticed her before, but a blonde-haired girl had been standing farther down the alley, and now walked toward us. When I saw the vicious looking bronze dagger she held in her hand, I nearly did a double take. _Is she planning to kill us or the boy?_ But I soon forgot about how strange the dagger was when I saw the boy's sword transform into a ballpoint pen.

"How did you . . . ," Lissie began, then shrugged it off. "Oh whatever, we just got attacked by a giant snake stalker dude. What's next? Water-bending? Magic wands? Harry ending up with Malfoy?" She was growing more and more animated, and our saviors just stared at her. "A TARDIS? Okay, that one would be _really_ cool. I mean, you people are cool and all because you saved us, so kudos to you, but if it had been the Doctor then I could have charmed him into making me his next companion and-"

I looked at the girl like she just spontaneously caught on fire. Motor mouth was too kind a term to use for her, considering she busted that out in about twenty seconds. . . . She seemed to forget the tiny little fact that we _just almost died_.

I cleared my throat. "Anyway, thank you for saving us, but, who are you?"

The boy twirled his pen around his fingers, then shoved it in his pocket. "My name's Percy Jackson, and this is Annabeth Chase. You're welcome, by the way."

"Uh-huh, good to know, but what was that fiery snake thingy that just almost killed us?" Nope, she hadn't forgotten about our near-death experience after all. "Was it a basilisk, like in _The Chamber of Secrets_? Or the Loch Ness monster? Or just some regular snake shooting up with steroids and firecrackers?!"

Percy's face broke out in a grin, but Annabeth remained more reserved, though she was noticeably holding back a smile. "Sorry, but no. That was a drakon, and if we don't hurry up and get to camp, we might have to face much worse than that," the girl said, looking worried. The way she stood so close to the boy, Percy. . . . They were more than friends, that much was clear.

"What on Earth could be worse than that?" I grumbled under my breath. Percy and Annabeth had turned around and were jogging down the alleyway, making it clear that us younger children were to follow them. Lissie made a very unladylike comment under her breath about having to play "Follow the Leader" after fighting off a supersized snake.

I thought the giant snake had been weird. Then came the girl with the dagger, and then the sword that turned into a pen. It had been a thoroughly unusual day, but when we turned out of the alley, I knew I hadn't seen anything yet. Why? Because there were two pegasi standing on the side of the road like a pair of parallel parked cars.

I stopped in my tracks, finally coming to my senses. " _What the hell is going on?!_ "

Lissie sucked in a huge breath to presumably start another bout of ranting. "Well, we were attacked by a monstrous snake called a dragon or drakon or whatever that breathes fire and spits acid and all that good stuff, we almost died, were miraculously saved by two mysterious strangers, and are now following said mysterious strangers to their equally mysterious camp on a pair of potentially dangerous pegasi. Haven't you been paying _any_ attention?"

"What- Who- And you're just okay with all of this? Cause this," I waved my hand around emphatically, "doesn't fly with me!"

She batted her long eyelashes in a very feminine way, feigning innocence. She said with a highly stereotypical Southern accent, raising her voice a good two octaves, "Why, sweetheart, pegasi _do_ fly!" Percy snorted, but I ignored him.

"You suck," I informed her, turning away quickly so she wouldn't see me blushing a light red, again. We approached the pegasi. One was jet black, and the other a creamy, pearly color. Percy swung aboard the black one with ease, and Annabeth climbed onto the lighter one.

"Aww, Kynan, why hide such a pretty face? Surely you're not blushing," Lissie taunted, grinning away like none of the events in the last ten minutes ever took place. She peered around to get a better look at my face. "Oh my, it isn't _so!_ Someone call the police. This boy is _blushing_."

I ground my teeth in annoyance. _The nerve! What an insufferable, bothersome little-_ Percy called, "Hey! Aren't you coming?"

Grateful for the distraction, I walked swiftly over to the black pegasus. _Thank goodness Lissie won't be able to get a good look at my face as long as we're airborne. Why does she get on my nerves so much? She's just another pretty face in the crowd. I can't afford to get attached; I can't be responsible for bringing her closer to danger._ The little voice in the back of his head nagged, _But haven't you done that already?_

I pushed myself up onto the pegasus' back behind Percy. Settling myself, I found Lissie waiting expectantly on the ground beside me. When I furrowed my brows in confusion, she motioned with her hand for me to move closer to Percy. Her posture was stiff with reluctance and wariness and it occurred to me, however well she could talk her way out of trouble, she truly did not want to mount the pegasis.

"Aren't you going to ride with Annabeth?" I asked, not moving an inch. "Unless, of course, you want to ride with me." I spat horsehair out of my mouth as the pegasus swished his tail angrily into my face. Lissie seemed to get the message, and vaulted up behind Annabeth on the other pegasus.

"I'm not real good with heights, I'm not so sure about this," I heard her say, but Annabeth's response was too quiet for me to tune in on. I was curious about it, though, and vowed to ask Lissie about it later. Fear was written in bold letters across her face, but she didn't say anything else.

 _Strange_ , I thought. On the ground, only thirty some seconds ago, she seemed dauntless, but now I could almost see her trembling as she clung onto Annabeth for dear life.

The pegasus unfurled its wings, and the sensation of them beating, lifting us off the ground, was by far one of the coolest things I'd felt in a long, long time. I couldn't help a grin from breaking across my face as we soared into the air above New York. The grunge and grime of the city now far below us, I took a risk and stretched my arms out to either side, reveling in the cool breeze which whistled past my bare arms. I couldn't remember feeling this free since . . . . Well, since before my mom's recording deal.

It was then I noticed the medium-sized black backpack slung over Percy's shoulders. I'd have recognized that thing anywhere. "My backpack!" I shouted joyfully. Unzipping it hurriedly, I reached a hand inside and found, much to my relief, that my music player and CDs were still inside. I'd been building up my collection for a long time, and would've hated to lose so much precious time and money.

"Annabeth and I found it and another backpack, I assume the other one's hers, while we were tracking the two of you. Figured you might want it back, so we brought it along. You've got a nice collection there," Percy said. _Why was he looking through my backpack?_ That was when I noticed the blue backpack slung over Annabeth's shoulder which Lissie was hiding her face in.

"So where exactly are you taking us?"

"It's called Camp Half-Blood. It's a safe haven for people like us." I tried not to get annoyed by Percy's _people_ 'like us' comment. What were we, some kind of mutants? Werewolves, maybe? I'd seen a few episodes of Teen Wolf, and if my high school years ended up like that. . . . Well, at least it'd be easy to find a pretty girlfriend.

I glanced at Lissie. Her face was paler than usual, and she was already white as Casper the Friendly Ghost. She looked like she was about to be sick. That would be unfortunate. I imagined some ignorant, unsuspecting New Yorkers milling about to be pelted by mysterious vomit coming _straight from the sky_. Now _that_ would be entertaining.

We had been flying for just over five minutes when the pegasi began to descend over the tip of Long Island. At first, all I saw was a strawberry farm and a beach. Then, as we got closer, I saw what must've been Camp Half-Blood spreading out beneath us. It was mostly field and forest, with a big lake at the center, and Greek style buildings dotting the landscape. Most of them looked fairly straightforward: an open-air dining pavilion, a swordplay arena, stables. But there were some unusually decorated ones forming a U-shape near the edge of the forest, plus a climbing wall which, as I watched, dropped lava and clashed together randomly.

For the entire duration of our landing, I was too awestruck to ask Percy any one of the thousands of questions circulating through my mind. One thing was clear: this was no ordinary summer camp. But if it didn't teach hiking and arts and crafts and stupid, useless camp songs, then what kind of camp was this?

I slid off the pegasus with ease once we touched the ground, landing in front of the stables. Percy said something to the pegasus and then stood beside me. Annabeth dismounted her pegasus gracefully, giving the equine a friendly pat on the neck.

Lissie, however, looked even greener than before. She stumbled awkwardly off the horse, letting her backpack fall to the ground and clutching her stomach and her head simultaneously. No sooner had she taken a step toward Percy and I when she pitched forward as if she'd been pushed over from behind by some invisible wind. I quickly darted forward and hooked my arms under hers, keeping the girl from falling to the ground.

"Mmmphrgh," Lissie moaned. I'm not sure how, but I had an inkling she was making some kind of sarcastic comment that, had she been better capable of speaking, probably would've made me blush for a third time today. I really hated how easily I blushed. It wasn't just for Lissie, anyone who could deliver a good compliment or a particularly dirty pick-up line could coax my cheeks into painting themselves a subtle shade of scarlet. Although Lissie certainly had a sizeable talent for doing so.

"Let's get you two to the Big House, Chiron will want to see that you've arrived safely." Annabeth wasted no time in marching toward a huge, paneled house. Percy effortlessly scooped up a highly unbalanced Lissie, carrying her like a baby toward the farmhouse much to her noisy protest. I had no choice but to scamper along behind them, adding _Who the heck is Chiron?_ to my growing mental list of questions.

My mind was ever so gradually beginning to register what happened in the last half hour, that I was no longer in New York City, that I had absolutely _no_ idea where I was and why and even who our rescuers were. Then the doubt came and it churned inside of me as we briskly walked, like boiling water pouring over the edge of the kettle. And then I exploded.

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa!_ " The three of them (well, Percy was still carrying Lissie) turned to look back at me and noticed that I was violently trembling, my knees suddenly rather unwilling to support my weight.

Annabeth said calmly, rationally, "Everything will be explained soon enough-"

"No!" I shouted, fighting the itching urge to stomp my foot like a petulant toddler. "That isn't good enough! What the _hell_ just happened?! We were attacked by a _drakon_ , and you people killed it, but we don't even know you yet we _somehow_ trusted you two enough to go with you to this totally foreign campsite where we could be murdered and nobody would know!" I struggled to catch my uneven breaths.

"Today was going to be a good day because I was going to buy a CD, but then this little goon," I pointed wildly at Lissie and she at least had the decency to look ashamed, "stole my money and then I had to chase her around everywhere, so not _only_ do I not trust you people, but I don't trust her either! In fact, I _specifically_ DO NOT trust her, like, even in the tiniest slightest bit! Why am I here? My life was so different a half hour ago and now everything's changed and I WANT TO KNOW WHY!"

Our saviors were positively speechless and even Lissie was startled beyond words. She wiggled out of Percy's considerably loosened grasp and shuffled her way over to me, standing by my side. "I agree with Kynan." For some odd, inexplicable reason, her support comforted me. "We deserve to know the truth."

Percy looked like he desperately wanted to be somewhere else right now, so Annabeth took it upon herself to stress yet again, "Chiron is waiting for us-"

I opened my mouth to speak but Lissie beat me to the punch. "I don't give a rat's ass about Chiron!" The teenagers' eyes almost imperceptibly widened and she continued, "We deserve some answers, I ain't going _anywhere_ unless we hear some. So," she dropped onto the lush green grass and curled up her legs, Indian-style, "you may proceed."

I plopped down next to her and watched them expectantly. "Well, we're waiting."

"Maybe we can just club them over the head and carry them," Percy suggested, and I didn't even know whether he spoke in jest. He sounded strangely serious. I really hoped he didn't do that; the guy looked like he could overpower me in one hit, and I was no rookie to fighting.

Annabeth squatted down in front of us like she were talking to four-year-olds instead of two kids only a handful of years younger than herself. Well, Lissie seemed to have the mental maturity of a four-year-old but I was a little offended. "Look, I know you're confused, but Chiron's the one who's going to be able to give you answers-"

"You can't explain any of this? You clearly know this place quite well, but _only_ Chiron can give us answers?" There, I'd be willing to wager she wasn't expecting that! My sass was saved for the most dire situations.

"Well, we really need Chiron to-" Annabeth was probably annoyed seeing as this would now be the second time in a row I'd cut her off.

"Chiron this, Chiron that. I know he was a centaur who trained Zeus and Jason and some other important heroes, but that's all Greek mythology, it's ancient history. _That_ Chiron would've died long ago. And besides, how am I- we- supposed to trust him?" I was _so_ desperate to roll my eyes. Even just once would be enough. But something about Percy's and Annabeth's expressions held me back from doing so.

See, _I_ was insightful enough to refrain from doing so but Lissie was _not_ , so they directed their angry stares to her next. _Sucker_ , I thought gleefully.

"This is so damn stupid," she said and I knew another rant was coming along. I made myself comfortable on the grass and prepared to watch the show. "We get attacked by an ugly-ass monster if I do say so myself, you save our sorry asses, then we take a ride on your handy dandy unicorns or pegasi or My Little Ponies, whatever the hell they are, and you can't even _explain_ all that? Is this just so normal for you that you can't begin to comprehend what it might like for somebody that's confused as all holy _hell_ , like the two of _us?_ Jesus Christ, I'm stuck here wondering whether this is a really complex dream or some psycho injected me with LSD and this is the _surprisingly_ realistic hallucination, or-"

Lissie was actually the one to interrupt herself. She jerked her head to the side and sniffed at the air, her eyes widening to the size of saucers. "Strawberries!" Like a child much younger than herself, she bolted to her feet and took off, completely and utterly distracted from our current altercation. Well, she had the attention span of a gnat.

Percy and Annabeth shared this 'I-can't-believe-this-is-happening-right-now' look and I sighed. Well, there goes my support system. She left me for fruit. "Um, maybe we should go after her? Just a suggestion. Y'know, so she doesn't end up pissing off the other campers and getting herself attacked. Actually, from my perspective, that'd be kind of funny, but I feel like you two wouldn't appreciate it."

Annabeth's stormy gray eyes flicked up into an eye roll and she reluctantly picked up the chase after her, Percy on her tail. _Guess I ought to follow_ , I thought indifferently, running after the both of them.

We arrived upon Lissie impishly plucking at the juicy red strawberries, jamming a few in her mouth. Her eyes were glimmering with childish mischief. Percy, rolling his eyes slightly, wrapped his arm around her shoulders in a way that made it difficult for her to run off yet again. "Well, now that that's covered, let's head to the Big House." As she began protesting, he started steering her down the hill with a firm, "Now."

I wasn't so sure about all this, but I really had no other options, so I followed them. Annabeth leveled her pace to mine and Percy called playfully over his shoulder, "I think the Hermes cabin is about to add one more!"

"What's a 'Hermes'?" Lissie asked curiously and I slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand.

"It's one of the greek gods," Percy explained after a long moment of hesitance.

Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "We're meeting _God?_ But I'm kind of an atheist!"

"No, no, greek _god_. Like, lower-case."

"Gee thanks, that really helped."

"Sarcasm noted." He was smirking down at her.

"Wow, good job, _Sherlock_." Her tongue was sharper than a switchblade. I gravitated over to Annabeth.

"So, Chiron can explain all of," I waved my hands around, " _this?_ "

"Exactly. Everything will be cleared up too. And hey, I'm sorry about all of this. Everyone here knows how hard it is to learn the truth. Both Percy and I should've been a lot more understanding." I could hear in Annabeth's voice how hard this was for her to admit. I'd known a lot of performers whose pride got the best of them, but Annabeth clearly had this flaw well under control. I was impressed.

As we walked to the Big House, I looked around curiously at some of the other campers. Everyone wore orange T-shirts, and most carried weapons. I made a mental note to always watch where I was going; the way some of the campers waved their blades around for emphasis as they talked was putting me on edge. A group of girls were watching me inquisitively near the lake, whispering amongst themselves. I swallowed, realized I'd slowed down, and jogged to catch up with Annabeth.

At first, there appeared to be nothing extraordinary about the Big House (which was a relief because it seemed everything else at this camp was extremely out of the ordinary). It was just a solidly built house with two men playing a game on the porch. But actually, it was not at all what it appeared. For the umpteenth time today, I got the crap scared out of me. This time, it was thanks to a centaur.

"What does- Does he have- What the hell is going on?" I shouted, breaking into another panic. Honestly, though, this guy was freaking half-horse! Horse-dude turned around and smiled warmly at me, but it did nothing to ease the steady drip of panic seeping through my veins.

"Relax, child. I am Chiron," the centaur said. I swallowed hard. Lissie looked like she was going to run up and start petting Chiron any moment now, but luckily, Percy still had his arm draped over her skinny shoulders.

"As in _the_ Chiron? The one in the stories who trains heroes and stuff?" I asked. I stole a glance at Annabeth. She was clearly the smarter one between her and Percy, so if she believed this stuff, then I supposed I'd be a fool not to. And nothing on her face suggested any kind of doubt. _Damn, so then this is all . . . real?_

"Exactly. Although I fear the stories may be a little more than just stories," Chiron explained. The man he'd been playing cards with stood up now, one hand wrapped protectively around an empty Diet Coke can.

Percy lost his hold on Lissie and the girl scampered forward, climbing onto Chiron's back before he had a chance to react. Chiron didn't seem to mind. "Cool! So you shoot arrows and kill monsters like every day?"

"More of these annoying scraps? I can't wait to get out of this place," the guy with the Diet Coke grumbled. He had a potbelly and frizzy, graying hair that probably could've housed vines. And not to mention his sense of fashion was absolutely atrocious. A neon green leopard print shirt and white pants patterned with colorful parrots clearly did not go together.

"Kynan, Felicity, this is Mr. D, our camp director. He also goes by Dionysus," Chiron went on. I stared suspiciously at Mr. D. _How on Earth does Chiron put up with this thing?_

"I didn't know there was a Greek god of Diet Coke," Lissie giggled. Percy bit back a smile, but I was inclined to agree.

"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be a wine god?" I asked, motioning toward the soda can in his left hand. Dionysus' face turned three shades of scarlet.

"You two are as bad as Peter Johnson over there! I am the god of wine, fear me!" Mr. D barked. Percy, looking indignant, mumbled something along the lines of how that wasn't his real name.

"Then why are you drinking Diet Coke?" Lissie pressed on, shameless as ever.

"He got in trouble with Zeus, so he has to babysit us and not drink any wine for a few more years," Percy explained. I hadn't thought it possible, but Dionysus turned even more livid. Unfortunately, Annabeth was the outlet of his rage this time around.

"Annie Carter, don't you know better than to hang around idiots like these?" I was beginning to believe that this jerk was just screwing their names up on purpose. And who was he to call _me_ an idiot?!

Lissie scrunched up her nose as if something putrid was stinking up the air and said, "A bit rich coming from you, don't ya think?" I watched the exchange with captivated interest, but for some odd reason, Percy, Annabeth, and even Chiron looked a little wary.

He crumpled up the soda can in his fist. "What is that supposed to mean, mortal?"

"Your fashion sense is literally blinding me."

Mr. D opened his mouth, presumably to hurl some horrible curse at us, but luckily, Chiron cut him off. "Well, since they're here now, why don't I give Kynan and Lissie a tour of the camp? Percy and Annabeth, I believe your cabins and activities are waiting for you, and I'm sure these two have a lot of questions."

"We do," I said wholeheartedly and Lissie nodded along with me, blissfully ignoring Dionysus's stony glare. Percy and Annabeth were rather happy to get away- because of Lissie, I assumed, I was being cordial enough. They gave us back our backpacks and then they were _off_.

We followed Chiron off the porch, leaving Dionysus alone with his Diet Coke and card game. When we were a safe distance from the Big House, Lissie and I began our Q&A session.

"So, this is Camp Half-Blood? What do we do here? How long can we stay?" I asked, giving Chiron adequate pauses in which to answer my questions. Lissie was preoccupied with observing a game of volleyball to our right. Of all things that were happening around here, with the pegasi and the centaur and- were those _goat-people?!_ \- Lissie was distracted by what was probably the most normal thing here. And somehow I was not surprised.

"Yes, this is Camp Half-Blood, the only safe place for demigods like you. Here, we'll train you in how to defeat monsters. If you're lucky, the gods might send you a quest, in which you'll leave the camp and perform some kind of task or errand for one of the Olympian gods. Most campers only stay for the summer, but a few stay the whole year," Chiron explained.

The centaur had only barely finished speaking when Lissie interjected, "Are those _real_ satyrs?"

I cast her an incredulous look. It was hard to determine whether she was just plain ignorant, or had a busy mind, like me. When she caught sight of my expression, she snapped, "Close your mouth, Kynan, you'll catch flies. I know a few things of my own."

I scowled, and Chiron chuckled. "Yes, those are real satyrs. You're bound to meet several satyrs, nymphs, and naiads around camp."

"You mentioned monsters. What kind of _monsters_ are we talking about here? I think I can handle ghosts and monsters under the bed, but are we going to have to face stuff like vampires and werewolves?" I asked. Lissie twitched, clearly itching to make some kind of joke about that. It seemed to physically pain her to resist, but luckily, Chiron answered my question before she could snap.

"You're thinking folklore, Kynan. Think Greek mythology. What kind of monsters would we be talking about now?" Chiron replied. I mentally slapped myself. _Stupid question, Kynan. You're in a Greek camp._

"I'm guessing not sparkly Edward Cullens," Lissie said cheerfully, now noticeably more relaxed after she got the little snub out of her system.

I was _not_ amused, however much I wanted to be. "Very funny, Lissie. You could be hampering my ability to stay alive here, you know?"

She pouted, but her trademark smirk (yeah, I only knew her for a couple hours and the number of times she'd smirked already was astronomical) indicated I was about to get burned. "I thought you were a New York City prostitute with nothing to fear but having your wallet stolen. Was I wrong?"

Chiron's eyebrows shot into his hairline. " _Excuse_ me?" She casually waved him like a pesky insect off and that did not please him.

"I told you, I'm not a prostitute. Desperate times call for desperate measures," I grumbled. _Damn, how does she come up with this stuff?_

"All right you two, settle down now. _Anyway_ ," Chiron went on, "perhaps by dinner tonight your godly parents will claim you."

"Wait, why d'you think that?" Lissie's eyes burned with curiosity. "Are we, like, just that special? Cool with me, I accept that. Cool with you, Kynan? Kynan?" Her happy demeanor melted away as she took in my stormy countenance. "Kynan, what's wrong?"

I was still stuck on the "p" word and only the "p" word, also known as "parent." Memories of my mom flashed through the forefront of my mind. I could feel tears beginning to make their way toward my eyes, but I refused to cry, especially in front of Lissie and Chiron. If my mom was coming to camp, I had to get out of here.

"Uh, thanks, but um, I've got some, ah, pressing business to attend to," I stammered before taking off toward a nearby restroom. I was _not_ going to have a breakdown in front of them. Behind me, Lissie was shouting something, but it was like white noise in space.

Before I could fling myself into the men's room, a hand on my shoulder yanked me back. The hand guided me around the back of the restrooms. Completely immersed in memories, I slumped against the restroom wall and crumpled to the ground, head in my hands and shoulders quivering.

"Kynan, what the hell is going on with you?" Lissie demanded, staring hard into my eyes. I couldn't hold it back any longer; a tear slid down my cheek.

" _Are you excited to see my show, Ky?" my mother asked. She had the most beautiful smile, bright and radiant like the sun._

" _Of course, Mom! I haven't gotten to see a show in so long!"_

My memory skipped ahead to my mom's concert, the opening number.

" _Are you enjoying the show, Kynan Morgan?" The voice belonged to my mom's manager, but it sounded deeper now, more grating. I turned around and found myself face to face with glowing white eyes. I stumbled back, grabbing the first thing I could reach, which happened to be a spare microphone._

" _I hope you are, because this is the last show you'll get to see." The source of the voice leapt at me. I didn't wait to find out if this was some kind of cruel prank. I closed my eyes and swung my microphone at it. The microphone made contact with the creature's head, causing the beast to crumple to the floor._

 _Heart racing, I stood up and scrambled away from the monster. What if there were more of these? The creature had been pursuing me, not my mother, so maybe I could draw them away from her. It was the only plan I had. I took one last look at my mom standing on the stage singing the one song I'd helped her write, then sprinted into the darkness._

Lissie's eyes widened and it was obvious how much she was regretting the harshness of her previous statement. "Kynan, what's going on? Do you not want to meet your godly parent or whatever? You don't actually believe this stuff, do you? I don't believe in God or gods or . . . I don't know. But what's going on with you?"

"My mom . . . She's not a god. She's just a music star. Oh gods, if she's coming here . . . I can't . . ." My voice stopped with a rasping sob that I thinly disguised as a cough. Another tear traced a shining trail along my cheek. _Now you've done it, Kynan._

Lissie froze up for a moment, clearly unsure of what to do, but she eventually decided on leaning over and awkwardly patting me on the shoulder. "It's okay, Kynan. Everything's gonna be all right. It didn't sound like she was coming, at least from what Chiron said. He stressed the _godly_ parent part."

"Godly?" I asked weakly, too distraught to come up with any ideas as to what that might mean.

"Yeah." Darkly, she muttered under her breath, "Trust me, it can't be regular mortal parents. The last I saw, the dead weren't walking."

My gaze snapped onto Lissie's face, eyes wide. _The dead weren't walking? Does she mean . . . her parent is dead?_ Now I felt more ashamed of myself than before. Not only had I broken down in front of a girl I'd known for little more than an hour, but I'd also gotten emotional over my mom who was far away and probably thought I hated her guts when her parent was dead.

"Lissie, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean . . ." I noticed the moisture glistening in her eyes, and before I knew what I was doing, I'd stood up and was hugging her as if she were the last breath of oxygen on Earth.

She stiffened like a board underneath my hold but then relaxed into the hug. "No chick-flick moments . . . _Sammy_ ," she said faintly and I smiled- even through her grief, she managed to summon up a _Supernatural_ reference.

"Jerk," I said playfully as I pulled away and her lips quirked up into a broad grin of her own.

"Bitch," she replied without even a single beat of hesitation.

"Assbutt!"

"Hey," she protested, "only Castiel is allowed to say that . . . _idjit._ "

I began to laugh at the sheer improbability of the situation, and within seconds I had to release Lissie in order to clutch my stomach as I broke into full-on hysterical laughter. This time it was tears of laughter running down my face. She dealt with the pain through sarcasm and jokes, and I managed it with laughter.

"You need therapy," she chuckled but soon enough, she displayed herself to be equally "crazy" as me, because she started laughing just as hard. What could I say? My laugh was adorable and infectious.

"Are you two all right?" The clatter of hoofbeats alerted us to Chiron's presence. We looked up in unison as the trainer appeared around the corner, looking worried. I shared a look with Lissie. _Oh right, Chiron. . . ._

"Yeah, we are. Sorry about that, Chiron," I said with a nervous laugh. I dusted off my jeans, stood up, and offered a hand to Lissie. A man could always be chivalrous. She accepted my hand, and I helped her to her feet.

Chiron didn't seem particularly soothed by my response, but thankfully, he accepted it. The older man opened his mouth, probably to suggest we continue the tour, but footsteps cut him off. A blonde boy wearing glasses and built like a Roman statue came jogging around the corner.

 **Rory's A/N: I swear I'll make Goldie write an author's note. I'm just having too much fun updating. Thanks for reading! :)**


	4. Chapter Three

At the arrival of this muscular boy, I had a shocking revelation about humankind (or demigod-kind, however you want to think of it). When muscular, good-looking gods have children with (presumably) equally good-looking humans, the offspring is one sexy hunk of beautiful, half-godly homo sapien. And this guy was no exception.

"Is everyone okay? There was a lot of noise coming from back here," the blond kid said, glancing from me to Kynan to Chiron. _We were laughing like idiots, but I didn't think we were_ that _loud._

"In the future, you might not want to investigate strange noises coming from a bathroom. Whoever is making the noise probably does not want to be interrupted," Kynan pointed out, completely deadpan. _Damn, he took the words right out of my mouth._

When I first met him, he seemed like a straight-laced hard ass. It was probably because I stole his wallet and he was chasing me . . . that _may_ have had something to do with it. But it turned out, he was pretty chill and had a few decent one-liners- not anywhere near _my_ level, but respectable enough.

The meanings seemed to sail straight over Chiron's head, but the blonde kid sure didn't miss it. His blue eyes widened considerably, and he stared at Kynan in shock. Kynan simply smirked, looking all too pleased with himself.

"Spoken like a true prostitute, Kynan!" I smiled smugly. _That'll knock him off his high horse,_ I thought. Blondie, if possible, looked even more surprised, taking a step or two away from us. His mouth opened and closed several times like a fish without making noise, and he looked to Chiron for confirmation. Chiron's face said only one thing: _I will never get any peace, not with these two around._

Kynan grumbled a few profanities under his breath, irritation rolling off him in waves. He turned to hurl a sharp-tongued comeback at me, but I gave him no time, saying pleasantly, "It's not very polite to cuss around a lady, Kynan."

"If you're a lady, then I'm Madonna," Kynan snarked, still pissed about getting called a prostitute again. I was never going to let him forget that one, not as long as it annoyed him so much. I liked seeing him annoyed.

"I knew you looked familiar."

Irked that I one-upped him yet again, he retorted proudly, "Screw Madonna, I'm Michael Jackson."

I honestly _did_ know what he meant by that, but I feigned ignorance. "What, dead?"

"I hate you."

"I love you too, _sweetheart!_ " Man, how I loved to rile people up. Especially him. There was something so deliciously satisfying about it. Because he took the bait _every single time_.

Chiron seemed to think it was time we ended our conversation. "Jason, these are our two new campers, Lissie and Kynan." With a hand on each of our backs, he gently propelled us closer to Jason and added, "I'm afraid that I have some pressing business to attend to. . . . Jason, could you kindly complete the tour for me?"

Jason visibly balked at the idea and I realized what was going on. _Pressing business?_ Chiron was just sick of us! I mean, yeah, it was _understandable_ , but I still couldn't help being a touch offended. Well then, we'd just make him regret it.

Trouble was my middle name. Well, it was Claire, but same difference. Claire from _Heroes_ caused some issues, with being indestructible and all: she was trouble. She was my inspiration- besides the whole cheerleader thing, but who didn't love the "save the cheerleader, save the world" storyline?" Yeah, I digress, sue me.

"Sure Chiron, no problem," Jason said finally. Chiron gave the blonde a pat on the back of thanks, and made haste to trot back to the Big House. I smiled deviously and Jason only paled. This hot blond dude did _not_ know what he was in for.

"So, uh, what's Lissie short for?" Jason asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot awkwardly.

"What, so Lissie's not a name in itself? Wow, I see how it is." Before he could stammer out a protest, I chirped, "Felicity. So, what's next in the tour? C'mon, guys, we don't have all day! We have to be chosen by God to be the next Jesus or something. I don't know. What did Chiron say again?"

Kynan broke out into laughter again and Jason looked like he was seriously contemplating jumping off a cliff. "I obviously wasn't listening too carefully, Lissie."

 _Oh right, the whole mortal verses godly parent thing_ _he was all worried about._ _He was listening even less than I was!_ "Um, I'm pretty sure Chiron was talking about you two being claimed by godly parents, not . . . your theory."

We took up a leisurely walk and Kynan inquired curiously of Jason, "So, who's your godly parent?"

"Well, I'm Roman, so my dad's Jupiter, not Zeus." _Huh. I guess that's no weirder than having a Greek godly parent. Whatever._

"Wait, if you're Roman then why're you at a Greek camp?" Kynan pressed.

See, I only knew this Jason guy for a minute or so and he already rubbed me the wrong way (only because he seemed so uncomfortable around us) but I decided to hark on Kynan again 'cause . . . why not? "Wow, Ky, so you'd rather him be segregated? Tut tut, it's 2015."

Believe it or not, I was a perceptive person and I noticed the slight falter in his step. I had been ribbing him since I'd met him and he just let it roll off him, but not this one. "Don't call me Ky," he said through clenched teeth.

The gears turned in my head. _Why would he have a problem with that? Why . . . why . . . OH. His mom . . ._

Sobering up, I instinctively shifted over to him and murmured, "Sorry, Kynan, I didn't know that bothered you. I won't call you that."

His shoulders loosened up and he gave me a soft smile. "Thanks."

A teenage girl suddenly appeared in my field of vision, running toward us with her rich, dark brown hair flowing behind her like a mane. She was surprisingly beautiful, like, model-level beautiful. "Jason, I was looking for you!" she exclaimed, then took Kynan and I in. "Oh, hi. Jason, who are your friends?"

"Our tour keeps getting interrupted," I whined under my breath and Jason shot me a sort of warning glare. _Aw hell no. You're hot, but keep acting like that and you're gonna get some of your sexy points subtracted_.

Drool might as well have been pouring from Kynan's mouth and his face was as scarlet as a cherry. I narrowed my eyes. It was funnier for me when _I_ made him blush. This was just bullcrap. "Uh, hi, I'm, um, gah . . ."

"Having a stroke?" I dryly finished for him and Jason and the brunette had to turn their heads away to hide their laughter.

As Kynan proceeded to send death glowers my way, Jason threw his arm around the girl's shoulders and introduced, "This is my girlfriend, Piper, and Piper, these are Kynan and Lissie. They're very . . . interesting."

"I want that written on my tombstone." Then, I added thoughtfully, "Along with _Superwhovian."_

Kynan scoffed, "Good God, girl, how do you watch these shows if you live on the streets?"

Dutifully ignoring Jason and Piper's looks of surprise, I replied hotly, "I know people who _have_ TVs!"

Wisely changing the subject, Piper queried, "So, uh, anyway, how old are you two?"

"I just turned thirteen, and he's thirteen too, probably," I said before he could spout some false age and make a fool of himself.

"So am I," he said, a little crestfallen now that he couldn't impress her more. _Hah._

 _"_ That means you'll probably be claimed very soon," Piper said, and my ears perked up. _Say what now?_ "The gods made a deal with Percy that they have to claim their children by the age of thirteen. Maybe, if you're really lucky, they'll choose you tonight!"

I didn't really know how to feel about that. A part of me was excited, sure, but gaining a brand new parent? A little weird. Especially considering he was a total deadbeat dad. If he cared about me at all, he would've visited me after my mom died. But he didn't, and I didn't know if I could ever forgive him for that.

"Who's _your_ godly parent?" I asked Piper once the silence lasted a few moments too long.

She hesitated a second before answering, "Aphrodite."

"The goddess of love and beauty?" Kynan gasped. _Whoa, whoa, back it up._ Why did he know all this mythology crap? All I know is that satyrs were goat-human thingies (someone must have had a really strange fetish in the ancient Greek days, maybe it was normal then?) and a few well-known gods like Zeus and Poseidon. But that was literally it. No more- zero, zilch, nada.

"Something like that," she muttered, a pale pink creeping up to her cheeks. "But that doesn't matter. What _does_ matter is- who put those turquoise streaks in your hair? I _love_ them!"

I blinked in surprise then smiled a little shyly. "Oh, uh, thanks. I just know a person. Sort of friends with them. She did it for me."

Well, now that conversation was virtually over and we all just stood there, staring at each other. Kynan was fidgeting and stealing glances at Piper (what an amateur), and I could feel the awkwardness settling on my shoulders. Jason and Piper seemed less uncomfortable than Kynan and I, but they had each other for support, and couples were just like that.

I had to say something to break the silence. "So, should we continue the tour before my hair turns gray with age? Then I'll have to get more streaks."

The tension snapped like it'd been cut with scissors.

"Yeah, sure," Jason said, turning around and leading us onward. To our left was a large, calm lake. A group of campers paddled across its surface in canoes, grinning and laughing away.

Laughing was the _last_ thing I wanted to do right then. My limbs were frozen, my eyes glued on the shimmering blue waves lapping at the beach shore. So . . . relentless.

I hated all kinds of water with a burning passion, after . . . the incident.

 _Bang! The phone slipped from my mom's grip onto the hardwood floor. "Oh my gosh."_

 _I hesitantly scurried over to her, picking up the phone to toy between my fingers. "Mom, what's wrong?"_

 _A huge, blinding grin lighted up her face . . . such a beautiful smile, a smile that I vowed to never forget. I had her smile, and her dimples. "Oh, Lis . . ."_

 _I took a moment to process what had her so happy and then I shrieked in exuberance. "YOU GOT IN?!"_

" _Yes!" she cried and I jumped into her arms, giggling as she swung me around, twirling on the balls of her feet like a ballerina. I buried my face into her fiery red hair._

 _Placing me down and smoothing the bangs out of my face, she said with barely contained excitement, "They want my art, Lis! My paintings are going to London! I'm going to have my very own art gallery!"_

 _We screamed together and I jumped into her arms again, tears of happiness rolling down both of our cheeks. "You did it, you did it, YOU DID IT!"_

 _Several months later . . ._

" _Mom, they're letting us use our own private jet?!" I was beside myself with joy._

" _That's part of the perks of being a semi-famous artist," my mom said playfully, holding my hand as we climbed into the jet together._

" _Maybe I'll be next," I said thoughtfully and she smiled down at me._

" _I have no doubts. One day, you might be the most famous artist in all the realms." She waved her hand above us dreamily and I giggled, leaning my head against her side._

" _I sure hope so. . . ."_

 _She planted a kiss on the crown of my head as we sat down. "I have the highest hopes for you, baby. I love you so much."_

 _I threw my arms around her neck and murmured into her hair, "I love you, too." For some reason, I had this foreboding, ominous feeling that something bad was going to happen. . . ._

 _A couple hours later . . ._

 _Another wave of sea water crashed over my head and I was shoved underneath the fearsome surface. Fighting my way back up, I found the strength to shout between my sobs, "Mom?! Mom, where are you? I can't find you!"_

 _The pilot was dead, probably killed the second the plane met the Atlantic Ocean. But my mom was missing, and I hoped with every fiber of my being, in my heart of hearts, deep within my soul that she was still alive._

 _Another wave sucked me down and I flailed about, holding my breath as well as I could go. And what was when I saw it._

 _A flash of bright red next to me. Using the last of my energy, I swam over to the flowing red and blindly groped around until my hand made contact. . . ._

 _It was my mom's body. She was dead. "Mom, no, please, NO!" Against my best efforts, she sank beneath the surface. "Mommy, don't leave me! MOM!"_

 _She disappeared into the depth of the stormy waters and I succumbed to the ever so powerful waves, slipping into unconsciousness._

 _I welcomed the darkness._

"Whoa, you guys have a lake? Can we go swimming? Hey, Lis-" Kynan suddenly stopped short. The look of reckless excitement on his face vanished like he'd seen a ghost.

"Hey, Lissie, are you all right?" He jogged over and placed a hand hesitantly on my shoulder. I jumped at his touch. In the moment our eyes made contact, a look of understanding washed over him. I fought with everything in me to keep my tears at bay.

Kynan's tone was soft as he said, "Lissie, whatever it is, you're okay now. This is a safe place, remember? Let's keep going with the tour. Piper said something about a climbing wall that spews lava, but I don't really believe her. . . ."

Kynan began to ramble. I didn't pay attention to what he said specifically, but he'd managed to snap me out of my memories. As he steered me away from the shoreline, I smirked; I needed sarcasm. Nothing boosted the spirits like some good old sarcasm.

"Lava? You mean I get to burn you both physically and verbally? This might be my new favorite place," I said with a broad grin. Kynan scowled, but it was obviously half-hearted. Somewhere inside, he was still worried about me.

A minute later, we walked past an enormous amphitheater. We didn't go inside, but Jason explained that we would get to see it tomorrow after dinner, since we had an activity planned for tonight.

"What kind of activity? A Doctor Who marathon would be great. I could use some Matt Smith in my day; no day is complete without Matt Smith!" I stated firmly, bouncing on the balls of my feet as I walked. "Except Capaldi took over. He's not bad so far, but he's no Smith or Tennant or even Eccleston."

Piper laughed. "As great as Doctor Who is, that's not what we're doing. On Friday nights, the whole camp gets together to play Capture the Flag, Camp Half-Blood style!"

"What exactly is Camp Half-Blood style?" Kynan inquired, looking suspicious.

"Everyone wears armor, and we can use weapons. The goal is the same as normal Capture the Flag, to take possession of the opposite team's flag, but here there's more strategy, and some campers have magical items they can use to help them succeed," Jason explained. "Speaking of which, we should try to hurry this up. Dinner's in just over an hour, and we still have to get you two through the armory and settled into the Hermes cabin."

"So is Hermes our godly parent, then? Kynan, what's he the god of?" I asked, somewhat sourly. Jason and Piper shared a look that obviously said _They're new, they'll learn soon enough._

Kynan got one of his plotting grins on. "This is just perfect for you, Lissie. Hermes is the god of messengers and thieves, so you'll feel right at home."

I stuck my tongue out at him immaturely. "I'll tell you one place you won't be calling _your_ home. You sure as hell ain't going to Aphrodite's cabin." It took him a moment to register my words and then he glared daggers at me.

We stopped in front of two tall walls of rock. A few campers were currently scaling the climbing walls amid waterfalls of lava. Judging by the smoking holes in some of their shirts, it was actual burn-you-alive lava. As I was watching, the two walls suddenly rushed forward and smashed against each other. Two campers fell off and plummeted toward the ground.

"This is like the story about the Symplegades, but without the bird and boat, right?" Kynan asked excitedly. He was watching the climbing wall with some kind of eager, possibly sadistic fascination.

"Simple gates? That doesn't look simple to me, Kynan," I scoffed. Inside, I was wondering what the hell he was talking about. It was probably something mythology related, but that didn't hinder it from irking me. This showing me up in Greek mythology had to be stopped.

Jason stared at Kynan with surprise, and maybe a little respect. "I guess so. Maybe you're an Athena child; you know the myths pretty well, don't you?"

"No, definitely not Athena," Kynan answered flatly, his tone indicating there would be no further discussion of this topic. _They call this a safe place, but all it's done for Kynan and I so far is bring up some bad memories. I'm not writing a good performance review, definitely not five stars. Would not recommend._

"How do you know what the Symplegades are, Sparky?" Piper asked. The brunette looked genuinely confused.

"They're part of the myths about Jason, the first one, and the Argonauts," Jason replied. Piper nodded, and the four of us crossed the river to continue our tour. The two older campers pointed out the mess hall, where we'd have dinner in a little while. It was a big, open air pavilion with Greek columns all around and lots of dining tables.

Next were the cabins. They were arranged in the shape of a Greek letter omega, with twenty-six cabins total. Jason led us around, pointing out each cabin and naming the god whose children it housed. Each cabin was based on Greek architecture, but had some stylistic choices of its own that made it unique from all the others.

We stopped outside the Hermes cabin. "This is where the two of you will be staying. Cabin 9, led by the Stoll brothers, Connor and Travis. When we're done at the armory, we'll take you two back here, and then your head counselors will be in charge of you."

"You want me to sleep in the same cabin a hooker boy over here? What kind of camp is this? Do you _want_ me to get STDs?" I demanded of Jason, then settled back with a smirk to watch the aftereffects. Piper spluttered in shock and stared wide-eyed at Kynan while Jason turned red and rubbed his temples in exasperation.

Kynan rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, sweetheart, the doctor says I'm all clear. It's all good, I'm clean."

"Connor and Travis'll get a real kick out of these two," Piper muttered under her breath, just loud enough for us to hear. My plan to sow mass mischief was succeeding.

"The day I do anything remotely like that at all with you will be the day pigs fly," I scowled, crossing my arms determinedly.

Kynan raised his eyebrows and laughed confidently. "Ever heard of Chrysaor? Pigs already did fly."

 _Aw, shit, he got me that time. But I won't go down without a fight!_

"Chrysaor was a boar, but they're very similar," Jason explained. _Oh yes! Sexy points for saving my butt!_ I smirked at Kynan in a "take that" kind of way.

"Just you wait, Lissie. We just found out we're half Greek god, I'm sure flying pigs aren't impossible," Kynan said confidently.

"Okay, fine, allow me to rephrase. Me doing anything like that with you will be the day _Friends_ gets a reboot series." His face fell- I stumped him.

As we walked on to continue the tour, Piper pulled me back a few steps.

"You may want to keep that one away from the Hecate cabin," Piper informed me, then gave me a clap on the back and jogged to catch up with Jason. I gave the cabins a parting glance and followed suit.

Next on the tour was a building that kind of resembled the Roman Coliseum. The ground around it was vibrating, as if the place was generating its own miniature earthquakes. Jason called it the Swordplay Arena, then led us inside.

The moment we set foot inside, an enormous black shape charged toward us. It moved too fast for me to see what it was, but I was reminded of the monster we'd faced earlier today in the alleyway, and jumped backward, knocking Kynan over in the process.

"What the hell-" Kynan grumbled. The black shape continued to advance. I scrambled further back, looking around for some kind of weapon. It was a swordplay arena, surely there was some kind of sharp blade handy. But no, there was nothing. I'd just have to use Kynan as a shield.

Before I could move away from the black creature any more, a large pink thing appeared and _licked_ me head to toe. It was a tongue. I wiped the slobber away from my eyes and glanced up to analyze what kind of monster killed its victims via excessive drool. As it turned out, said animal would be a dog; a very large, black dog the size of a garbage truck. "Hello there, doggie thing, may I ask you an important question? Are you by any chance related to Kynan over there?"

If Kynan had a sword in his hands, I was quite certain he'd use it to decapitate me.

"Lissie, Kynan, meet Mrs. O'Leary. She belongs to Percy," Jason explained. Mrs. O'Leary sat down, causing a tremor which upset my balance. Every time her wagging tail hit the ground, more vibrations shook the earth.

"Why doesn't that surprise me? Is she a hellhound?" Kynan asked. I realized our legs were still entangled from me knocking him over, and promptly stood myself up. He got to his feet after me, giving Mrs. O'Leary a suspicious gaze.

"Yes, but don't worry, she only hurts monsters and the practice dummies." Piper and Jason had both somehow dodged the hellhound's greeting, and now stood safely off to one side.

Mrs. O'Leary woofed at me. Now that I knew she wasn't a danger, I ran forward to pet the enormous black canine. Looking around at the rest of the swordplay arena, I saw a stash of practice blades off to one side, along with what looked like an entire army of swordplay dummies.

After another minute of rubbing Mrs. O'Leary behind the (very large) ears, Jason called out, "So, are you two ready for the armory?"

"Oh hell yeah!" I yelled, waving goodbye to Mrs. O'Leary as I ran out of the swordplay arena, forcing Jason, Piper, and Kynan to chase after me. "I have no idea where I'm doing. Someone, direct me!"

Jason, with his considerably longer legs and stride, caught up with me and none too gently yanked me back by my shoulder. "Don't run off and get yourself into trouble," he warned me seriously.

"But that's, like, my life," I complained and he just paraded me along. "That's how I get things done. Act first, think later, hope for the best. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Life's a gamble, y'know? Gosh, somebody should be following me around with a pen and a notepad. This is some philosophical crap right here!"

Jason slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead. "Kynan," I yelled over my shoulder. "That's your new job. Mark down my quotes for when they'll be famous later."

He jogged forward to walk side-by-side with me and, amused, told me, "You know, you were onto something there and then you ruined it."

"Yeah, I know," I admitted sullenly. He didn't have to rub it in.

Kynan smirked and fell silent. We walked along the edge of a large field of strawberries, the field where I had my snack earlier. Satyrs walked among the bushes, playing songs on sets of pipes.

"Is it just me, or do the strawberries like pipe music?" I wondered aloud, eyeing the strawberry plants suspiciously. I could've sworn they were _dancing_ in response to the satyrs' music.

Kynan frowned. "In that case, the strawberries have poor taste in music." I nodded in agreement.

"Wait, so do we get weapons?" I asked Jason and Piper hopefully. They both looked at me dubiously.

"I don't know if that's the best idea. . . ." Jason trailed off and I sulked. He seemed to feel a little bad then so he appeased, "We'll work it out. I'm sure we can find you something. You're just kind of small for your age, though your enthusiasm makes up for it."

I shrugged; he was right, I was small for my age. People always viewed my appearance with ambiguity. Some had said that I looked a couple years younger than I was, a select few thought I was a bit older, but most thankfully just took me for my age: recently turned thirteen. In sum, I just looked like a small, somewhat dainty thirteen-year-old. Dainty, of course, before I opened my mouth and showed otherwise.

I heard the armory before I saw it. The clanging of metal was unmistakable. When it came into view, I sucked in a breath. Boy, it was impressive. "Damn," I whispered, stepping back a few feet to take it all in.

"So that's the armory," Kynan breathed just as quietly, in the same state of awe as me. At first glance it was nothing more than an ordinary tool shed, but one door had been left open, and inside was the largest assortment of deadly weapons I'd ever encountered.

"It's like a TARDIS for weapons!" I shouted, running inside despite Jason's feeble warnings. Swords, knives, bow and arrows, even guns. . . .

"Jeez Lissie, calm down. You're like a kid in a candy store," Kynan pointed out. The annoyance in his voice was clearly forced; he was enjoying this just as much as I was. When I managed to tear my eyes away from a set of throwing knives, I found him fingering a collection of swords appreciatively.

"Where are your sonic screwdrivers?" I demanded of Jason, rummaging through a box of blades on the floor.

Jason shut his eyes for a moment to regain his patience. "You know, you're going to be the sole reason I start watching that- just to understand all of your references." I grinned proudly.

The first thing that caught my eye was a shotgun and I charged for it. Jason caught me by the wrist and simply said, "No. Pick something else. I can't in good faith give you a shotgun." I rolled my eyes- he knew nothing.

A bow and quiver full of arrows captured my attention. "That's gorgeous," I complimented, and they truly were. The chiseled bronze bow and equally bronze tips of the arrows were shined to the point where they gleamed, even in the dull lighting.

The rest of them were clearly apprehensive as I toyed with one of the arrows but they didn't have much reason to be. They didn't know anything about me, so they didn't know that while I was living on the streets for three years, somebody taught me how to shoot a gun to defend myself. That's why the shotgun appealed to me first. I had incredibly good aim, and I wasn't even trying to brag. It was fact. If I had gone through the process of getting tested and whatnot, I would have been a registered sharpshooter.

If I couldn't have the shotgun, then the bow and arrows would have to do. I picked up the quiver and slung it over my shoulder, making sure that none of the arrows fell out. The bow just felt so _right_ in my grip, and with a smile, I swung that over my shoulder as well.

Piper walked over to me and said, "Nice weapon, Celestial Bronze. Beautiful. Chiron holds archery lessons all the time so he could teach you how to use that. Not before Capture the Flag tonight, though. I recommend having a weapon for hand-to-hand combat, for later when you're attacked and you're too close to the enemy to fire an arrow." I loved how she said "when" and not "if." _Very encouraging_. "Now, let's see. You're slim and small-boned, and younger than most campers to boot. I don't know how well a sword would work for you. I recommend a dagger personally, I use one."

Jason voiced his approval and led me over to where the daggers were kept. At first, they all looked the same to me but as Piper explained the differences to me, they became more apparent. I eventually picked out a long, pretty bronze dagger with a sheath and everything- to be honest, the main reason I picked it was it just radiated _swagger_.

"See anything you like, Kynan?" Jason asked. The boy was standing in front of a wall of swords, looking thoroughly stumped.

"I like the swords, but not the idea of a shield. . . . Don't you have any light, one-handed swords?" Kynan asked, somewhat plaintively. I rolled my eyes.

"Not that I-"

Kynan cut Jason off with a loud cry of "AHA!" He jumped toward a corner of the shed, rummaged for a minute, then pulled out two light, slightly curved swords. They were practically the same color as his hair, and glowed faintly. He swung them experimentally, prompting Jason to duck as one of the blades almost chopped off the top inch of his head.

"These ones. What are they?" Kynan asked, staring at the swords in what seemed like wonder.

"They're called katanas. Not a very popular weapon around here as they're not exactly a Greek weapon, but those are Celestial Bronze, which is quite deadly to monsters. So if those are really what you want, they'll do just fine in protecting you," Jason explained. Kynan nodded thoughtfully.

"Do they have names?" Piper asked. Kynan squinted at the blades.

"Maybe they're called 'Decapitators,'" I suggested, grinning cheekily at Jason.

He frowned at me and grumbled, "Not funny," rubbing the top of his head as he did so as if glad it was still there.

"Sundancers," Kynan read.

I couldn't help a snort. "Could they _be_ any more cheesy?"

He caught my reference right away- like a pro. "How you doin'?" I snickered along with him as Jason and Piper couldn't look more confused. This guy . . . he understood me.

"Sounds like something made for the Apollo cabin," Jason commented, then went on, "Maybe you're an Apollo kid. Have you ever randomly started spouting poetry?"

Kynan looked at Jason as if he'd suddenly grown horns and a tail. "I'm afraid not. Sorry, but poetry isn't really my thing."

The sound of a conch horn echoed across the valley, effectively cutting off our conversation. "What's that?" I asked and Jason began leading us out of the armory.

"Dinnertime," was all he said. My stomach rumbled in satisfaction- about time! I hadn't eaten all day, for obvious reasons.

"Thank goodness! Do you know how much of a pain my stomach has been this afternoon? You even walked us past the dining pavilion earlier and didn't even bother to offer us anything! Have you _no_ manners?" Kynan protested, wagging a finger at Jason accusingly.

Jason elected, wisely, not to respond. The four of us jogged toward the dining pavilion. Most of the camp had already arrived and was seated at long, picnic type dining tables by the time we came trotting in. Kynan and I automatically began to follow Jason and Piper, but Jason stopped us.

"No no no, you two get to eat with your cabin. I'm sure Connor and Travis will be happy to meet you," Jason said. Piper scolded him quietly enough that her exact words were concealed, but the point of her whispering was obvious.

"But we don't _have_ a cabin," I pointed out, a little hurt. He wanted rid of us- I understood why, because I had been purposefully annoying him all afternoon, but the sting was still present. Everyone _always_ wanted rid of me.

"No, we do, Lissie. Hermes cabin, remember? I'm going to give you STDs?" Kynan prompted.

I immediately grinned at the memory. "Ohhhh yeah. Well, stay away from me, hooker boy." With my chin held high, I vowed to find the Hermes table on my own, so, showing extreme loyalty, I ditched all of them. "Bye, my minions!"

"You can't get rid of me that easily, sweetheart!" Kynan called, running after me as the older campers shrugged and walked off.

"Yeah, you're like a bad rash." There- what a perfect way to twist the possibly romantic meaning behind his words into something funny for _me_.

"In that case, maybe you should keep your distance. Sources of heat tend to make rashes worse, you know," Kynan laughed. He was using his _I'm playing pranks on you_ voice again.

The gears in my head shook off all dust and spiderwebs and began shifting around. I really could not tell what he meant by that so I chose to ignore it, for once. It wasn't worth it.

In looking back at the boy chasing me, I'd momentarily neglected to be mindful of where I was running. Naturally, that short moment of distraction resulted in me stubbing my toe into one of the tables. I was lucky a stubbed toe was all I got; I could've gone headfirst into someone's dinner. But, nonetheless, a stubbed toe was quite painful.

"Holy Shakespeare!" I cursed loudly, grabbing my afflicted toe and hopping around dramatically in pain.

"Gods of Olympus Lissie, you stubbed your toe on a table. Calm down," Kynan grumbled, coming to a halt behind me.

"Kynan," I said threateningly, "I don't need your sass." With a wince, I placed my foot back on the ground and hobbled along like Tiny Tim in the snow.

"Well, you can have it anyway, because I'm just that generous."

"I don't want it, I'm returning it!" I argued. "Did you give me the receipt?"

"Sorry Lissie, it's limited edition; you can't buy sass this fabulous in stores," Kynan replied, singsong.

That bastard bested me. Grinding my teeth and clenching my fists, I hurried past him before he could figure it out, and ran smack into two teenage boys, nearly knocking the barbeque food items out of their hands. "Oi, watch where you're goin', shorty!"

I was about to apologize to who I assumed were brothers ( _wait, did he call me_ _shorty?!_ ) when the second one cut me off with, "Wait, hold up. Black hair, turquoise hair streaks, younger than most campers, short . . ." He looked me up and down, mockingly pensive.

I narrowed my eyes- uh uh, no way was I letting that insult fly. "Who're you to mock _me?_ J.R.R. Tolkien called, he wants his elves back!"

The two of them stared for a beat longer until they burst into laughter. "I knew it, she's that Lissie girl!" one of them chortled, the second boy. "The new camper Percy told us to watch out for! I approve, I approve. You'll fit in right nice in the Hermes cabin."

Kynan ran over to join me. "Lissie, who-"

The first brother said, "Ah, and there's the other one! Kynan, right? I'm Travis, and this is my brother Connor. We're your head counselors, for now at least. Care for some barbecue heaven?"

Kynan was momentarily stumped, but recovered his composure enough to mutter, "Sure."

A few minutes later, after scraping some of my food into a bonfire (still wasn't clear about on that one), I found myself seated at a table full of pointy-eared kids with crooked smiles and heaping servings of barbecue heaven. I felt immediately at home. Kynan sat on my right, poking suspiciously at his plate. Across from us were the Stoll brothers.

The brothers gave instructions to their golden goblets, and to my shock, they filled up right to the brim with liquids. "Uh, how'd you do that?" I asked through a mouthful of grapes.

"Just tell it what you want," Connor informed me after a huge gulp of it. "And it'll give you your order."

Kynan watched me carefully, a bite of pulled pork primed and ready on his fork. "Will it give me something alcoholic?"

"Not if you're underage. But we once wrestled one of the older campers to get us a few cups of beer. You can even give it a specific color and brand, if you're picky," Travis explained, a mischievous grin on his face.

I lifted up my cup and ordered, "Dr. Pepper and orange juice." It gurgled up and smirking, I added, "Make it . . . iridescent." Obediently, it reflected as many glimmering colors of the rainbow as it could fit. Much happier now, I swallowed down a mouthful and sighed with relief. I hadn't drank that in a while.

Kynan stabbed another bite of pulled pork, emitting waves of uncharacteristic grumpiness. He was still eyeing me and the Stoll brothers suspiciously. I thought maybe Kynan sensed the same thing I did: that here were two souls who would, rather than admonish me for breaking rules, support me in as many daring exploits as we could dream up. In that case, he had reason to fear; he'd been officially marked as a prime recipient of my pranks.

"If you're stuck on drink ideas, try nectar, Kynan. If you haven't had, you haven't lived," Connor advised, nodding toward Kynan's still-empty goblet. "Don't drink too much of it, or you might spontaneously combust and make a big mess, but a little's okay."

Kynan visibly gulped but still ordered the goblet to fill with nectar. He, then, studying the goblet's contents, asked, "What will it do to me?"

"Come on Kynan, where's your sense of adventure?" I grinned, elbowing him in the side. His eye roll did not go unnoticed by me. Multiple scenarios in which he sprouted a pig's tail or donkey ears flashed through my mind as Kynan lifted the cup to his lips and took a sip.

For a moment, his face was an expression of pure bliss. "I remember now, nectar is the drink of the gods, isn't it?" He took another sip, and sighed, "It tastes like my mom's cinnamon eggnog."

Although I was disappointed he hadn't turned into a hamster or something interesting like that, I now wanted to try some of the mysterious liquid. "Nectar," I commanded my cup. "Now make _that_ iridescent." It barely had time to fill with the sweet fluid before I took a big gulp.

Wow, head rush. It tasted _just_ like the highly bizarre smoothie consisting of strawberries and jalapeños my mom whipped up one boring summer afternoon. Yeah, it sounds disgusting, but it was amazing and one of the best things I had ever tasted- and it reminded me of my mom.

"Well, what's yours?" Kynan startled me out of my reverie.

"Oh, um . . . it's a smoothie, sort of. With strawberries and jalapeños." Kynan's, Travis's, and Connor's repulsed expressions were priceless as I happily sipped away at my drink.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Kynan muttered before continuing to brutally dismember his pulled pork.

The rest of dinner sailed smoothly and I almost didn't want it to end. Turns out, we were expected to join in their Capture the Flag game and it frightened me a little because, although I knew how to street-fight, I had absolutely no idea to fight with a sword and shield or whatever they required of us.

I managed to choke down my last bites as I gripped my fork too tightly, to the point where it shook in my hand. And then the dreaded words arrived as Chiron trotted to the center of the dining tables. "It's time for . . . _Capture the flag!"_

 **A/N: Ok, Goldie and I decided that I'm in charge of posting this story, and she's in charge of posting our Once Upon A Time story (which you should totally check out cuz it's great). Also, thank you to the guest who left us a very nice review this morning. You're awesome too, especially for being the first to review. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter Four

**A/N: We changed their ages to both being thirteen. It makes the story work better. Thanks for your understanding.**

Chapter 4

Kynan's Perspective

Virtually against our will, Lissie and I were herded out like cattle to the edge of the forests where campers were suiting up in armor. If everyone hadn't been laughing and joking around the whole time, it might've felt like we were all headed off to war (or to recreate some iconic, Ancient Greek battle, whichever you prefer).

The two swords I'd been admiring earlier had been brought out from the armory, as well as a basic set of armor that I knew would make me look like a complete dork. Lissie's weapons of choice and a set of armor had been brought out for her as well.

"Do you have any idea how to put these on?" I asked Lissie, tugging at my armor in confusion. Thankfully, she looked equally perplexed. It was nice to know I wasn't the only person around here who couldn't put on some armor in thirty seconds flat.

"Are you kidding me? These are impossible!" Lissie exclaimed. "How is everyone putting these on so fast? Are they part-time Stormtroopers or something?"

"If so, then I'd pick a lightsaber as my weapon," I remarked, struggling with one of the straps.

"You two look like you need a hand." Turning around, I was confronted with a cheerful-looking blonde guy and a dark-haired, dark-eyed boy who practically radiated evil. A shiver ran down my spine.

My voice caught, rendering me unable to answer. Lissie piped up, coming to my rescue. "If you're not busy, yeah."

The blonde guy moved to help Lissie with her armor ( _great, one more boy I'll have to keep an eye on_ ), leaving the dark-haired boy to help me. Instead of physically showing me how to put on the armor, like the blonde guy did for Lissie, the dark-haired boy simply said, "Just fasten the buckles at the sides."

"You must be today's new campers. I'm Will, Apollo head counselor, and this is Nico, head of the Hades cabin," the blonde guy, Will, said, straightening up from helping Lissie with her armor.

"I'm Lissie," she introduced herself pleasantly, "I have no title. It's a little sad, really."

"How about head counselor of petty crimes, New York division?" I murmured sarcastically. I hadn't really intended for her to hear me, but I couldn't help a smirk when she scowled at me.

"Assbutt over here is Kynan," Lissie said. The eye-roll was so strong, you could hear it in her voice. "He's a prostitute. Just thought you ought to know, in case he tries to solicit something with you for a few bucks."

Will and Nico looked somewhat taken aback, and understandably so.

"Would you stop introducing me like that?" I half whined, half pleaded with Lissie. There was no real point to protesting, she would do whatever the hell she wanted and there was nothing I could do about it.

She sneered at me. "As long as it keeps annoying you, no can do, sweetheart."

Now Will and Nico just looked entirely unsure what to make of our relationship. The situation had begun to get awkward, with Lissie and I sassing each other's faces off and them standing to the side watching and wondering if I really did sell my body for a living. Lissie's title for me had started to make me wonder how much I was worth. I liked to think it was enough to get me at least another armful of CDs.

Luckily, the tension was shattered by Chiron's voice beckoning us all to gather around him. The crowd of demigods moved like a single giant mass, us among them.

"Now, you all know how much I hate reading off which cabins are on which team now that we have so many. Please stay with your cabins; your head counselors know which team you're on. The red team will be led by the Ares cabin, and the blue team by the Athena cabin. We'll begin in twenty minutes!" Chiron announced. The second he finished, the crowd melted into motion, with demigods moving in every direction.

"Where's our cabin?" I asked bluntly. Both Lissie and I were too short to see over anyone, which made it hard to find the rest of the Hermes cabin. Not to mention, we were both comparatively lightweight, and got bumped around easily by other campers.

"How am I supposed to know?" she snapped back. "I'm even shorter than you!"

". . . True."

"Hey, Lissie, Kynan! This way!" Connor Stoll's voice was like a blessing.

"Thank the gods," Lissie grumbled, darting toward Connor as quickly as lightning. Huffing in annoyance (what was it with this girl and leaving me behind?), I squeezed through the crowd after her, barely avoiding the ends of a few assorted weapons. Lissie, on the other hand, swerved around oncoming campers like a freaking ballet dancer.

Lissie and I stopped in a group of campers belonging to the blue team, which consisted of the Athena, Poseidon, Apollo, Hermes, Hades, Hecate, Tyche, and Hypnos cabins. I was immediately comforted by the presence of Percy and Annabeth. They appeared to be the blue team's leaders.

Annabeth was detailing a battle strategy to the other head counselors on the team. From the edge of the group, where Lissie and I stood, it was impossible to hear what she was saying. Thankfully, the meeting was short, and Travis Stoll appeared in front of us after another moment, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"You two are going to help guard the flag, okay? Since it's your first game, we don't want to risk you guys getting hurt, especially since you haven't had any training yet," Travis announced with a smile.

"Guarding the flag? Seriously? That's like saying, 'Guard the Impala while we go slay demons!'" Lissie complained and I nodded vigorously.

Percy trotted on over, most likely just hearing a snippet of our conversation. "Ah, Jason told me all about your nonstop pop culture references." She grinned, evidently proud of herself. "Hey, I had to stand guard my first time too. So, it isn't too bad or unusual." With his need to hand over some friendly advice exerted from his system, he retraced his steps to go join Annabeth again.

Nobody else but Percy had taken notice of her noisy complaints, so disgruntled, she leaned over to me and hissed in my ear, "Screw that. They'll learn real quick: driver picks the music, and shotgun shuts his cake hole." That _Supernatural_ reference must have been her attempt at a metaphor. It was amusing, but hardly poetic.

Now, it probably wasn't the most intelligent thing to egg Lissie on, but I was a little righteously indignant myself. So, I concurred, "Agreed. We both lived on the streets, we know how to fight."

"Damn straight!"

We played along at first- allowed them to settle us into the right positions, listened to them drone on and on about basic self-defense techniques, and we stoically kept our big fat mouths shut. And for Lissie, that final challenge was damn near impossible.

It was all dramatic when Chiron blew the obnoxiously loud conch shell thing-y (really, a regular, boring old whistle would work just as well) and everyone charged into battle like instead of some summer camp, they were a bunch of bloody-thirsty Spartans. Talk about taking a game _way_ too seriously.

Lissie and I were left in a whole big windstorm of dust, all on our own. And when they meant "guard the flag," they weren't being all that honest, let me tell you. Those liars actually meant the general area only somewhat close to the flag, where the flag wasn't actually in our line of sight and we were essentially guarding a pile of shrubbery.

"Why're we here again?" Lissie grumped, fiddling for the thousandth time with the straps of her armor just for the sake of boredom. "C'mon, we're not _that_ useless. We can do _something_."

"Apparently not," I sighed in return. I prepared myself for a long stint of bitching and moaning from my sole companion, and a whole lot of nothing from everything else.

Before Lissie could add anything else to the conversation, the sound of a twig snapping set us both on edge. "Do y'think someone's there?" I hissed into her ear, gripping my swords with sweaty, essentially useless hands.

"Only one way to find out." Lissie ditched our guard post (and me!) to follow the noise like a rambunctious puppy catching the scent of a bunny rabbit. She would probably not appreciate the comparison, so I chose to keep my muses to myself.

 _Hmmmm . . ._ I had two options. Follow the plan-less sass-master and possibly find myself in danger as well as abandon my only job, or maintain said job and succumb to unbearable boredom. Sue me, I picked the first one.

"Lissie, wait up!"

A half hour later later, I was hardcore regretting my impulsive decision. Turns out, the rustling we heard probably belonged to a rabid squirrel or something, but definitely not to a human being of any kind.

This would be all well and good if we hadn't gotten _lost_. "This looks familiar," I murmured as we passed a certain tree marker I'd sworn we'd seen only ten or so minutes prior.

"It _all_ does," she bit back, a gleam of unmistakable fear in her greenish eyes, "all the trees look the friggin' same. It's getting dark. We're so boned."

"You got that right."

"Say it- since Jason isn't around to give us his bitchface- we're fucked."

"Yep, we're fucked," I conceded. This was not _entirely_ our fault. We should've gotten a better tour if they didn't want us to lose ourselves in the woods, or better yet, not host this whole Capture the Flag nonsense in the forest anyway.

Blowing out a sigh of frustration, I planted myself on a large rock. My feet were begging for a break from walking around the forest (and by that I mean tripping over roots, slashing away shrubbery, and avoiding basically anything and everything that moved), and all I could do was hope Lissie was as tired as I was and wouldn't wander off without me.

"This is not how I planned to die!" Lissie yelled dramatically at nothing in particular, and I rolled my eyes to the heavens. "I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, not 'cause I got lost in a stupid forest and died of dehydration or starvation, or more likely, boredom!" Evidently, she had tired herself out, and curled up into a little ball on a particularly springy patch of moss.

Now, because I was feeling tired and bitchy, I replied with, "Lissie, I'm pretty sure you can't actually die of boredom." Bantering with her was sure to keep me from dying of boredom anytime soon, although I was certainly in for half a dictionary of sardonic comments.

"Most people can't, but I assure you, I can," she shot back without a beat of hesitation, mercilessly ripping out handfuls of the moss at a time just to amuse herself. "Being entertained is as important to me as water, I tell ya. I'm just special like that."

"You're 'special' in a lot of ways," I sighed. I wasn't really sure if I meant it as a compliment or an insult. Maybe a bit of both.

She craned up her neck and narrowed her eyes at me. "Kynan, are you attempting to insinuate something?"

"I'm always insinuating something. It's better than dying of boredom."

"Maybe, maybe not. I'll get back to you on that one."

"You almost sounded like you had a plan on when you were going to figure that out." I picked up a stick and entertained myself for about 0.2 seconds by stripping the bark off it.

"Well, I don't know, Kynan," she bitched back at me, throwing her arms up in the air in a bout of frustration, "we're sitting in the middle of goddamn nowhere, so I really don't have anything better to do. If you have a better idea, do enlighten me."

I was momentarily stumped. I tossed my stick into a bush. "You're awfully consensual. Have you been breathing in some kind of messed up air in this fucked up forest?"

Lissie sat up, her nose scrunched up in thought. She propped herself against the tree and pondered it over. "I dunno, actually, do ya think somebody's smoking some marijuana or something? Maybe that's it. Or who knows, maybe there's a meth lab nearby. I don't know what to expect from this place."

"I'm as confused as you are." She'd better appreciate that. I was unlikely to admit my confusion ever again in her presence. Although what was slightly more amazing was that she had admitted confusion to me in a non-sarcastic tone.

She bumped her head against the bark of her tree in a steady, almost comforting rhythm. "Do you think they'll find us before we die?" She didn't sound all that concerned, just a little impatient, if anything besides indifferent.

"They're probably too caught up in their game to notice we're gone," I admitted, then added, worriedly, "We're going to die out here, all alone in the middle of a goddamned forest full of weird stuff and weird people in a camp on the tip of Long Island Sound. And this morning all I was worried about was buying my mom's CD and maybe finding a cheap hot dog vendor."

She hummed in agreement, stretching out her limbs and cracking her neck obnoxiously. "I was just worried about finding money for my next meal, maybe a decent place to sleep." For once, her countenance was serious. "You were just my next victim . . . nothing personal, y'know. I didn't, like, target you. I was just real hungry, and I didn't have any money, and you were flaunting it, so . . . I guess the potential for dying puts everything in perspective, huh?"

"Yeah. And hey, don't worry about the money. You gave it back, and I understand. I should've known better than to flaunt my money, especially when it's so hard to come by in the first place."

I found myself thinking about my backpack. It was back at camp, with all my mom's CDs and my music player in it. I guess I'd kind of expected that I'd die with that thing on my back, since the streets of New York City were a dangerous place for a runaway kid, but now that I didn't have it, I felt like a huge part of me was missing. I'd wanted to have that backpack, containing the last physical memories I had of my mom, with me at the end.

A half-smile tweaked up her lips, and she covered a giggle with her hand. "I only gave it back because we were about to die that time, too. And you could've flaunted it all you wanted. It still didn't mean I had to take it from you. You . . . didn't deserve that." I noticed that, through all of this, she had still never apologized, but I almost didn't want her too. It would be like her apologizing for us meeting in the first place, and I wasn't sorry about that. Even with her non-stop attitude and relentless insults.

I was busy sorting through my thoughts, so she startled me out of a trance of sorts when she asked without any pretenses, "Do you miss your mom, Kynan?"

I looked directly at her. She was looking at me too, and I suddenly felt as if she could see everything about me just from looking at my face. If it had been anyone but her, I would never have admitted what I did next. "Yeah. A lot."

She smiled again, but not a real smile, not a smile that met her eyes. It was a bitter, painful smile, like she had lost herself in a swarm of bad memories. "I know how you feel. I miss my mom, too. So much. And it never stops. I don't think it ever will. I don't know if I want it to. I don't want to ever forget her . . . she was all I had, and now . . . Now, I have nothing." A thin sheet of moisture covered her big, round eyes and a single tear rolled down her cheek, splashing down on her chest armor.

My feet moved on autopilot, carrying me over to sit beside her before I realized what I was doing. Although, I didn't regret moving closer to her. I wanted to comfort her, reassure her somehow that things were going to be okay. It didn't matter that things weren't going to be okay. Tough things were easier to bear when there was someone to bear them with you. Between years of solitude and meeting her today, I understood that in a whole new way now.

"She didn't deserve to die, Kynan," she whispered, putting an enormous amount of effort in forcing the rest of her tears back. "She wasn't like me. She was _good_." A nostalgic, then despairing look crossed her face and another tear fell- her self-restraint proved futile. "She drowned in a storm. I was there, too. It was so _horrible_." Realization dawned inside of me; that was why she was afraid of the water. "She was finally getting what she deserved, living out her dream of having her own art studio, something she worked _so damn hard for_ , and she just . . . died. She never got to see her studio. She never got to live out her dream. It's not _fair!_ "

Finally, her last wall crumpled into a pile of dust and she burst out sobbing. I reached out and, taking a leap of faith, pulled her toward me until her head was leaning on my shoulder and my arms were around her back. "I'm sorry," she cried into my shirt. "I'm sorry for dumping this all on you, for being so . . . weak. I thought I could handle it all- it was five years ago, after all. But I miss her now just as much as I missed her then. I want her _back_ , Kynan. More than anything in this entire world. But, you know more than anybody- we don't always get what we want. I never do, at least."

"Lissie, you're not weak," I said, stroking her long, silky hair soothingly. "Fuck, you kept this to yourself for five years. If I'm not wrong, this is the first time you've talked about it."

"You're not wrong. Dammit," she joked feebly, leaning away from me to rub furiously at her eyes, "I hate it when that happens."

I put a hand on each of her shoulders, directing her to look me in the eyes. "Listen, you can cry all you want. I'm not going to think any less of you for it. And if there were anything in this world I could do to bring your mom back, I would. Promise me one thing though, please. Don't keep this to yourself. I know you just shared a lot of stuff with me, but the pain never truly goes away, I know. So next time you need to break down, I want to be there for you again, like this. For as long as you continue to let me, I'll be here for you."

"I know and . . . I promise," she replied strongly, laying her hand on the side of my neck in a gesture that surpassed the realms of casualty. I felt myself leaning into her gentle caress. "I know if you could bring her back, you would, Kynan, and I know you're here for me. I don't know why I know, but I do. And I _know_ I barely know you, but . . . That means more to me than I can say. You being here, talking to me . . . Nobody's ever done that for me before. Thank you. Really, _thank you_. And I feel the same way about you. If you want to talk to me about _anything_ , now, or a month from now, or a year from now, assuming we don't die here," I chuckled along with her, "then I'll be here. I swear it . . . _sweetheart_."

I took a deep breath. _You know what you need to do. It's only fair._

"About two years ago was the last time I saw my mom in person. She was stuck in a crappy record deal, so she had to do a lot of concerts, and I didn't get to come to very many of them. Her boss tried to keep the fact that she had me a secret, like her already having a child would somehow attract fewer fans. But, I was allowed to come to this concert and watch from backstage. I was so excited. . . ." My chest felt tight. I drew in a shaky breath before I continued, and Lissie gathered one of my hands in both of hers, squeezing tightly.

"She got into doing the first song, and I was sitting on top of a spare speaker off to the right of the stage, watching. I think she always started with this song because it was the one I helped her write. I hadn't heard her sing it at a concert before, but it was amazing. Anyway, I wasn't paying much attention to anything else, so I didn't see her manager come up. He asked me if I was enjoying the show. I turned around, and he was . . . not human. I don't know what he was, but he was clearly going to attack me. I just didn't want him to ruin my mom's show. He'd already ruined so much for us. I grabbed a microphone and hit him over the head with it. He went down and kind of, disintegrated. I didn't know if there were more, but he'd seemed like he was after me. I figured if I ran, I could draw them away from my mom, and maybe she could finish her show in peace.

"So that's what I did- I ran- and oh God Lissie, I wish I hadn't run, because I can't stop running now. Maybe if I'd stayed, we could've figured something out, found a way for us to stay together. I've regretted running away every day for the last two years, but I'm terrified to go back, because . . ." My throat closed up. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to at least slow the stream of tears. "Because once you've run too far, there's no way back."

Lissie's glimmering eyes were as wide as Saturn's moons, and I had no time to prepare myself for her lunging forward and wrapping her arms around my neck like her life depended on it. Her hands clutched at my hair, and she pressed her forehead against mine. "Oh, Kynan . . . You were brave. You _are_ brave. What you did was _selfless_. You don't need to run anymore, sweetheart. You don't ever need to run again. It's you and me now, okay? It's you and me, and that isn't going to change. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you. We'll be the two Musketeers. Oh, sweetheart . . . you don't need to run anymore."

So, the two of us were sobbing, clutching at each other like we were each other's last anchor, in the middle of a forest. And we were lost, so damn lost, and probably going to die of dehydration or starvation or whatever. But there was one thing I knew for absolutely certain. We were not going to die of boredom.

Well, this all escalated quickly. Just this morning, I thought she was nuisance at best, a hooligan at worst, and now she might as well have been my new best friend. It wasn't all that hard, because I didn't have any other friends, but still. Rapid progress right there.

Everything was different now, and I just had to roll with the punches. Lissie stiffly stood up as our moment swiftly turned awkward once we realized how, er, close we'd gotten. "So, um, do you need to go punch or kill some stuff to regain some manliness?" she joked, and I rolled my eyes. Balance was restored to the world.

"Should we try and find our way back to camp again? Maybe we'll be more lucky this time," I offered.

She wasn't opposed to it, but still, ten minutes later, we were more lost than ever. Hopefully, they'd at least find our bodies soon enough. . . .

" _Help me!"_ It was faint, but we both heard it, and we were on our feet before another second passed. " _Help, I can't fight them off!"_

Lissie had bolted forward before we could even _consider_ forming a game plan. Well, that was our plan. Charge, and hope for the best. It was awfully difficult to run in such heavy armor, though. "Do we have any idea what we're doing, or where we're going?" I panted after her.

"No, but that's half the fun!" she yelled back, surmounting a steep grassy hill to overlook a clearing. As I joined her side, my jaw dropped.

Not at the boy who had presumably shouted for help, he was mostly unimpressive. He was a scrawny little thing, no older than fourteen but carrying the stature of a boy much younger. From what I could see, he had downey, thin wisps of blond coating his pale head.

No, I barely noticed him at all. What I _did_ notice were the giant freakin' ants rising from ginormous mounds of dirt, approaching the boy. For some reason, I could accept the gods and satyrs and nymphs and pegasi fine enough. Sure, it all came with Greek Mythology. But enormous _ants?_ Nada. I drew the line at bugs as large as cars.

"What in the name of Leonardo DiCaprio are _those?_ " Now was not the time to question her choice of actor, the boy was about to be mauled by giant ants. That had to take priority. I would confront her later.

Figuring Lissie would follow me whether I told her to or not, I raced down the rise, half a step ahead of her. I tried to regain some manliness by whipping my swords out as I ran and leaping into action. Unfortunately, the Fates would not have it so. My second sword got caught, and my attempts to pull it out before I reached the bottom of the hill only threw me off balance, resulting in me rolling down the hill like the grand klutz I was.

Lissie really should've known better than to run so close to me, because she didn't have enough time to get out of my way as I tumbled down the hill. My legs knocked into hers, and she wavered, but much to my dismay, did not join me in my mortifying experience of rolling down the hill into battle.

My arrival at the bottom of the hill had two positive outcomes. One, I stopped rolling down the hill and was saved from further mortification at this moment. Two, Lissie and I's arrival startled the giant ants so much that they momentarily forgot about trying to kill the other boy.

Unfortunately (was there some kind of requirement saying every moment in my life had to come with a downside now? Really, I could do without that package), the ants' attention was completely focused on us now, and I was laying flat on my stomach, wondering how I'd gotten lucky enough not to impale myself on the sword I _had_ managed to pull out of its sheath.

"Uh, hey guys, maybe we could hold off on the whole 'I attack you, you attack me' thing until I get back on my feet?" I inquired, blinking up at the two giant ants looming over Lissie and I. The third ant held the other boy in its pinchers.

"Well, there goes our element of surprise," Lissie lamented and my cheeks burned bright crimson.

"Hey now, it's not like I asked to trip my way into battle," I defended myself, scrambling around in an attempt to get to my feet.

"You could've at least had the common decency to fall _onto_ the ants, and maybe knock over one or two, but _no_." And just like that, it was like our beautiful, heartfelt conversation of emotional breakthroughs never happened. _Thanks a lot, Lissie_.

The ants stared down at us as if they were debating in their psychic insect language whether they should kill us right away or save us for a Sunday roast. They didn't take too long.

One shot out its pincher right into Lissie's gut, drawing waterfalls of blood from the brand new gaping wound, and hurtled her right into one of the geysers. No warning, no nothing. _Bam_ , and she was gone. She didn't even have the time to cry out as she landed in the boiling hot water. She didn't even get to reflect over the fact that her life was hanging on the balance before it was violently cut short. Lissie had to be . . . _dead_.

I think I screamed her name. Really, I was panicking so much that I could've gotten stabbed and not noticed for another couple of minutes. All I could focus on was _her_.

 _She's dead. Lissie's dead. She's dead, she's dead, she's dead._

People didn't survive getting stabbed and tossed like rag dolls into giant holes in the ground filled with boiling hot water. Lissie, the girl I'd met just this morning, who'd stolen the most precious thing I owned, had somehow become a very important part of my existence in a matter of hours, and had now been ripped away from me, with absolutely no warning.

I moved without thinking, pulling my second sword from its sheath, and swinging both blades toward the neck of the nearest ant. Golden ichor sprayed across my face and breastplate as the ant's head lolled away from me; not completely dead, but not very alive. Another blow fueled by rage and grief severed its head from its body with a decisive _shink_.

"Kynan?" I couldn't be sure if I was imagining the voice or not. It was hard to tell if it was real- if anything was real. I was sort of drowning under water, just sinking so low I couldn't even see the surface anymore, and the voices were from above. I couldn't be sure if my brain was lying to me or not. "Kynan, we've been looking for you two for _hours_ . . . where's Lissie?"

It sounded like Percy. I ducked under another ant's pinchers and looked to the top of the hill. There stood Percy, Annabeth, Will, and Nico. A breath of relief forced its way out of me. Then an ant pincher dealt me a solid blow to the midsection, and I put my attention back on the fight and . . .

It was probably too much to hope that Lissie was alive, but that wasn't going to stop me from hoping anyway.

I couldn't find it in me to respond. I was too busy trying to slash ribbons through the ants, so they could feel even a fraction of the pain Lissie must've felt in the boiling hot water. I must've been sliced by the ants more than a few times, and blood on my hands made the handles of my swords slick, but no physical pain could register beyond the thoughts of Lissie that consumed my mind.

They were shouting my name. At least I thought they were. I mostly forgot they were there. And no, I didn't pay an ounce of attention to the blond sapling hiding behind a tree trunk.

That was when it happened. My hopes rung true, my faith held strong. Whatever Olympian gods might've been looking out for me answered my prayers. The girl who, by all standards of life, I shouldn't have cared about in the slightest was . . . She was alive.

And for the love of the gods, she was beautiful. Her feet were perched on the edge of the geyser, and the tendrils of steam rose around her like a heavenly shroud. Her long, black, aqua-streaked hair was drifting lazily behind her in the gentle breeze, as if so majestic it remained unaffected. Her milky skin was glowing with radiance, and her sea-green eyes held such power and strength that my limbs froze in place.

"I'm back, bitches." Lissie lifted up her hands, and the geyser exploded. But that wasn't even what drew in my attention in the most. For the gods' sakes, she just made a geyser blow up, and that wasn't even what I was looking at. Lissie was smiling, and just a minute ago, I never thought I would see her smile again.

I turned and did my best to shield myself from the rain of boiling water. I didn't have time to think, _She's alive, she's okay._ Instead, my thoughts were more like, _Ow, that's pretty hot._

The ants had keeled over dead, sending little tremors through the ground, when her return sunk into me. I barely registered the fact that I was shaking like a leaf in a storm. Despite the obvious safety hazards, I ran straight toward her and that geyser that should've stolen her from me.

"Lissie!" Her name wrenched itself from my throat, mangled and desperate from the emotional rollercoaster I'd just braved. My swords fell where the last ant had exploded into golden ichor, forgotten.

She emerged from the geyser, calm and stately as a queen stepping off her throne. "Miss me?"

I couldn't decide if I wanted to slap her for scaring me like that or hug her because she was alive, so I just stopped in front of her, chest heaving. I was saved the decision by the call of a conch horn from the crest of the hill.

I had a vague recollection of Percy, Annabeth, Will, and Nico appearing on that hill during battle. Turns out, Chiron and most of the rest of the camp had joined them, and now stood staring down at us as if we'd sprouted wings. And if we're being honest here, I see no reason why they'd be shocked at people sprouting wings.

"Kynan, _look!_ " Lissie pointed above my head, and a small gasp of wonder escaped her lips. "There's something floating above your head. I think it's a sun."

My eyes were glued to a glowing symbol above her head, and I pointed to it wordlessly. A trident the color of the ocean. That meant . . .

Chiron stepped forward, in all his centaur glory, and _everyone_ knelt before us. "All hail the son of Apollo, and daughter of Poseidon."

 **A/N: This is like my fav chapter so far? Yeah this one was a ton of fun for Goldie and I to write. :) Thanks for sticking with us you guys!**


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